


Pokémon Reset Bloodlines Sidestory - Gligarman Interlude

by FoxBluereaver



Series: Pokémon Reset Bloodlines [80]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Anime), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: Action/Adventure, Crime Fighting, Superheroes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-13
Updated: 2019-01-18
Packaged: 2019-10-09 08:56:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 35,063
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17403911
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FoxBluereaver/pseuds/FoxBluereaver





	1. Chapter 1

**_Johto region…_ **

"In other news, authorities are still in the dark about the whereabouts of crime lord Falcone Xicato. Xicato, who was unmasked last year as the ringleader of the biggest arms dealing operation in the history of Johto, was last seen after he escaped the police when they attempted to arrest him at his residence in Goldenrod City. Two officers were injured in the ensuing confrontation. Shortly after this, his ex-wife and daughter were also allegedly abducted from their own homes and it is believed they could have been taken hostage…"

The aforementioned crime lord, a man in his forties with a hard face and black hair with a few gray streaks dressed in a dark gray three-piece suit, was hiding in an old hangar, as he awaited the private plane that would fly him out of town. Tired of the same news report every time, he turned off the TV. The last thing he needed right now was the reminder of how his major operations had been exposed and most of his assets were frozen, all because of a certain silly-costumed vigilante. His only choice now was escaping from Johto's borders, but he wouldn't leave without his most prized non-monetary treasures.

"It's almost time," he said checking his wristwatch. "Just a little more, honey, and we can leave this place."

"We're not going anywhere with you." A red-haired woman, tied along with her sixteen-year-old daughter to a column, glared at him in defiance. They had stopped struggling a while ago, once they realized it was futile to try and break free. "Don't you see we don't want to have _anything_ to dowith you?"

"Is that how you thank me?" Falcone asked. "For everything I gave you? Everything you have now, your house, your car, your money, it's all thanks to me."

"You mean thanks to your dirty business," the daughter snapped. "Did you ever make an honest penny in your entire life?"

Falcone did not reply. He might have been the leader of a criminal empire, but something was for sure: he loved his wife and daughter, and it broke him completely when Veronica discovered what he did and immediately filed for divorce, as well as full custody of their daughter Victoria. Why couldn't they understand that everything he did was for them, so they would always be provided for?

"Sir, we've just gotten radio contact. The plane will be here in five minutes," said one of his bodyguards.

"Good. Get everything ready, we're leaving tonight. A permanent vacation at Pummelo Island is just what the family needs right now."

…

On the hangar's roof, a shadowy figure listened closely through a microphone in his gauntlet, connected to the earphones in his mask. Five minutes, he needed to act fast to prevent his escape.

There was one loose end in his investigation. He had frozen all of Falcone's assets when he exposed his arms dealing operations, except one thing: he had an account in Pummelo Island with his first savings, the only ones coming from legitimate business. Perhaps not enough to direct a dead criminal empire, but definitely enough to live well off out of the law's reach, and potentially opening the way for a return. He couldn't let him get away so he could rebuild his old empire from the ashes.

"You're not getting away, Falcone, let alone with two innocent women. Tonight you're facing justice one way or another."

Equipped with his battle suit's latest version, he could have easily renamed himself as "Gliscorman", due to the dark purple and red accents it showed. But for Adam Parker, the name Gligarman would always be his heroic identity.

The suit's changes were more than purely aesthetic: in his advanced age his reflexes and physical condition had gone past their prime, so to make up for it, it was reinforced against firearms, had several built-in concealed weapons, and was equipped with servomotors in the articulations to greatly boost his physical strength. He had replaced his old cape with a pair of retractable wings under the arms, that could easily double as an improvised parachute as needed.

The suit had definitely helped in taking down the guards watching the hangar's backdoor, so he could safely climb up to the roof and listen through the glass. That night the sky was clouded, so the moonlight wouldn't give him away. Several minutes ago he had activated a transponder to send a radio signal to the police department. All he had to do was prevent Falcone from leaving until his friends on the force came along.

"Gligar?" his trusty partner asked as he perched over his shoulder.

"Yes, Gligar. Distract them for a while to set up my grand entrance," Gligarman said as he pulled out of his belt a glass cutter.

Carefully, he cut out a piece of the window, just big enough for Gligar to pass. The flying scorpion snuck into the building through it and hid between the beams to wait for a bit. Meanwhile, our hero went towards the other side. While Gligar attacked from above, he would cut off their escape through the main entrance.

…

Back inside, Falcone's bodyguards were busy stacking up some boxes. They contained the last gift from their boss for their long faithful service, a reward for helping him escape the law's long arms.

"This is it. You guys won't have to work anymore for about four or five years. You can manage without me."

"We're gonna miss you, sir," the goon said as he accepted the last box. Shortly after they heard the plane's engines approaching. "Well, looks like your flight has arrived. Have a nice trip."

The man nodded, and gestured his other bodyguards to untie his ex-wife and daughter. Both women glared at him, but with those guns pointed at them, they couldn't try anything funny. Not like he was planning to hurt them, but they didn't need to know that. At least until they had left the Johto borders. Nobody would stop them, not even that guy…

"GLIGAR!"

A barrage of needles rained over Falcone and his henchmen, who quickly tried to take cover. Falcone himself pulled out a gun from inside his jacket, and much to his disgust, he saw an all too familiar Pokémon hovering over him. Wherever that Gligar went, Gligarman wasn't too far away.

"I should have guessed," he said dryly, and pulled the trigger.

The Gligar dodged the shot with a speedy descent and maneuvered using Double Team to confuse everyone in the room. The goons quickly grabbed their weapons to open fire, but with so many clones all over the place, it didn't take long for them to waste their ammo, and Falcone himself was brought down by a Quick Attack to his stomach. Several of the goons quickly grabbed some Pokéballs and threw them, unleashing several Raticate and Golbat to try and attack the elusive Gligar.

"Urgh…" Falcone groaned as he tried to get back on his feet, and saw the ongoing brawl as everyone tried to catch Gligar, but one by one the Pokémon fell in one swoop. "You! Bring the rest of the guys, now!"

The goon who got the order quickly ran for the entrance door. They had more men watching the perimeter just in case the cops or Gligarman arrived to cause trouble. They could overpower him with sheer numbers easily.

Or so he thought, before a winged figure fell on top of him just as he set foot outside, knocking him unconscious.

"Hold it right there, criminal scum!" he said as he rose to full height, outstretching his arms and raising his leg. "I'm afraid your flight has just been cancelled!"

The criminals glanced at him, torn between annoyance that he had come to meddle with their plans, and embarrassment that he still did that ridiculous pose. One of them took a look at his costume, noticing how different it looked from their previous encounters.

" _Sembra che il tipo abbia aggiornato il suo ridicolo costume da Halloween,"_ he muttered in his native language, causing the others to snicker a bit.

Gligarman was not amused. _"È una tuta da combattimento, e non è ridicola, idioti."_

The snickers stopped, and Gligarman took a more serious stance. Once they reloaded their weapons they focused their gunfire on the costumed vigilante while they let their Pokémon out to try to deal with his Gligar, who easily brought them down with his Double Team decoys and a combo of Quick Attacks and Swift barrages.

Gligarman swung his hand to hurl a series of razor projectiles. Three of them got stuck in the goons' weapons and exploded, knocking them out of their hands and making them groan in pain. The vigilante seized the chance to jump on them, quickly taking them out with a few punches to their faces, while the others tried surrounding him and Falcone tried to make a run for it.

"Get him, you fools! It's only one guy in a silly costume!" he yelled.

As he knocked a couple of goons out cold, Gligarman internally wished they didn't mock his costumes. Sure, he did start with a rather bright and colorful one before shifting through several other designs, settling for the current darker one, but that was so kids wouldn't be afraid of him. He wanted to be seen as a symbol of hope, not of fear. Except maybe for criminals of course.

After dispatching the last one, he ran towards the two women, and pulled out another Gligarang to cut their ropes.

"Don't panic, I'll release you right away."

"Look out!" the daughter yelled as they looked behind him.

He turned around just in time to see one of Falcone's goons delivering a punch to his lower face, right where his mask didn't protect him. Before he could get back up, a heavy foot stomped hard on his left knee, causing him to yell as he actually felt a brief yet painful crack in it.

"Looks like you've gotten soft in your golden age," the goon said as he cracked his knuckles. "It's because of guys like you that guys like me have it so hard in life."

"Sorry about that," Gligarman replied, managing to get back up as he tried to put up with the pain in the knee. The guy lunged at him, but his fists only met the reinforced arms of his gauntlets, and a right hook to his face left him out cold. "Now, where's my dear friend Falcone?"

"He's getting away!" The woman pointed above.

Gligarman turned around to see Falcone was climbing up the ladder to the hangar's roof. It would be pointless anyway since the police would arrive at any second, but he felt he shouldn't let him out of his sight. Meanwhile, Gligar finished taking down the last Golbat of the group and came to perch on his trainer's shoulder again.

"Take them outside and make sure they remain safe. I'll deal with Falcone myself," he said.

"Gligar!" Gligar nodded, and he flew away with Victoria and Veronica running after him. Gligarman meanwhile pulled out his grapple gun and fired it upwards to follow the fleeing criminal.

Once outside, it quickly became clear that the police would arrive shortly: sirens wailed and red and blue lights could be seen in the distance. He saw Gligar guiding the fleeing women to the nearby road, but he couldn't get distracted now. His priority was apprehending Falcone himself and put an end to his career once and for all.

As soon as Falcone saw him he tried to shoot at him, but one well-aimed Gligarang was enough to knock the gun off the roof. In desperation, the former crime lord tried to lunge at the vigilante, throwing punch after punch, only for them to get either blocked or dodged and then Falcone got single one to his jaw that almost knocked him off the roof. Gligarman made sure to hold back enough: a fall like that could easily kill him.

Down below, the red and blue lights illuminated the scene, and the police officers left their cars as they began to round up Falcone's men. Above them, a helicopter descended and illuminated Falcone with its searchlight, briefly blinding him. The plane had managed to safely land on the strip, but another helicopter ensured that they wouldn't get it to take off again.

"Falcone Xicato! We have you completely surrounded!" the helicopter's pilot shouted through the speakers. "Surrender yourself now!"

"It's the end of the line, Falcone," said Gligarman. "Turn yourself in; don't make this harder than it needs to be."

"Never!" the gangster replied. "There's no way I'm going behind bars!"

"You have no choice. You've lost everything, all you have left is facing justice for your crimes."

"You're only half-right on that," Falcone said. "I've lost almost everything. My wife, my daughter, my money, and my successful empire. All because of you."

The gangster paused to glance around. The only noises heard were the helicopter's blades and the police cars' sirens. He then glared at the costumed hero, who remained on guard in case he tried something funny.

"But there's one thing I'll never give up. My freedom." He stepped backwards, and much to Gligarman's horror, he opened his arms wide.

"Wait… you're not planning to-"

"I was hoping to get a flight to freedom tonight," Falcone said smiling evilly. "Guess I'll just have to take it the other way. I'd rather die than rot in jail."

"NO! DON'T DO THAT!" Gligarman yelled as he outstretched a hand. He had to stop him.

" _Addio_ … Gligarman."

The vigilante tried to run as fast as he could to stop his foe, only for his injured knee to send out a discharge of pain all over his leg that forced him to stop and shut his eyes. When he opened them again, Falcone was no longer in sight, and just a few seconds later, he heard the thud down below.

Shocked and speechless, the vigilante walked slowly to the roof's edge, and gathering up courage, he took a look. Falcone lied there, motionless, spread out on the asphalt, while the officers began to gather around to check out. He saw how one of them approached him cautiously to check the pulse, and shook his head to confirm it. He had done it. He had actually done it, and Gligarman had not been able to stop it.

**…**

A few minutes later, the goons had all been apprehended, and the police was cording the area around Falcone's corpse and the plane he was planning to use for his escape. Gligarman had taken a moment's rest, and his friend on the force kindly enough spared him a few minutes so he could bandage his injured knee.

"How does it feel?"

"I'll live. Thanks, Gio," he replied.

Her full name was Giordanna Jenny, but he would often call her just 'Gio' as a sign of their trust and friendship. The two had worked together for years, since the time she was just a detective up to when she rose as the city's police commissioner, and she was one of the few people who knew his secret identity.

"When I said I wanted Falcone to be taken down at any cost, I never meant it this way," she said with sadness. "Now he'll never face justice for his crimes."

"I'm sorry," Gligarman apologized. Gio gave him a puzzled look.

"Why? It's not your fault that he jumped off the roof to his death."

"I should have stopped him," said Gligarman. "If I had…"

"Hey," Gio interrupted him. "Don't go blaming yourself for anything. Plus, thanks to you and Gligar, his ex-wife and daughter are safe in our custody. That's enough reason for us to be happy. Go home and rest, we'll take over from here."

Gligarman sighed, but he figured there was nothing left to do. Fortunately he could still ride his Gligarcycle back home safely, and once Gligar perched back on his shoulder, he took to the road. One way or another, his duty was done.

**…**

Parker didn't bother going back to his bed that night. He spent the night in his hideout, bunker, or simply "Gligarcave", as he called it when he first discovered it.

The place had come to serve a myriad of purposes: it was his base of operations, private workshop for his new projects, training place, or simply where he went whenever he needed time for himself. It was also a place of history: there were quite a few trophies of his past adventures (or 'souvenirs' as he called them in his early days), and several of his old gadgets and costumes. He especially remembered his first one fondly, even if some made fun of him wearing those blue trunks on the outside.

Decades ago, he had been just a humble toymaker who wanted to promote his merchandise, and so he created his Gligarman costumed persona as a publicity stunt. And then one day, he stopped a purse-snatcher from getting away, and the kids who happened to see him innocently asked him if he was a superhero. Somehow those words got to him and thus the real Gligarman was born. It did wonders for his business too: in less than ten years his little store had grown into the biggest toy factory in the Johto region. But nothing could compare to the thrill and satisfaction he felt for fighting crime and protecting the innocent. That seemed to be his real call.

Sadly, as he glanced at the case holding his latest costume, memories of what he considered his greatest failure came back to his mind. That fateful night, where he made a vow to himself, one that he was unable to keep when he let Falcone commit suicide.

"Gligar?" his partner asked him as he perched on his shoulder again.

"I'm fine. It's just… I wonder if I'm getting too old for this," he said.

"Gar."

No matter what his old friend Gio had said. That night so many years ago, that woman, criminal as she was, died because he was too shocked to act. In his defense though, anyone would've been unsettled by the sight of a bunch of children gleefully killing their own mother in such a gruesome manner. He saw it in their eyes: they had just been waiting for that moment, and jumped on the chance to get rid of her.

Since then, he promised himself he would never let anyone, not even a criminal, die on his watch ever again. He was determined to bring Falcone to justice so he could stand trial for his crimes. But Falcone was dead, because he was too old, too slow to reach him and stop him from killing himself.

"No… I can't do this anymore," he said, as he placed a hand on the glass that separated him from his costume.

Even without the knee injury, and with his newest battle suit, he wouldn't be able to fight at his best. He couldn't bear the thought of seeing someone else die because of him, regardless of whether it was a criminal, or worse, an innocent. He wasn't fit for crimefighting anymore. Perhaps it was time to take to his other call, of being a toymaker, and a family man.

Parker walked upstairs, still slightly limping as he went up, and stopped right next to the switch. He reminisced of his adventures one last time, glancing at his old trophies. The flying hat with a razor trim that almost cut his head once, the giant coin he was once strapped to and launched through the air, the giant mechanical Tyrantrum (that he still had no idea how he ended up fitting in that place), all of them fond memories. It saddened that he didn't have anyone to pass onto his heroic legacy, but he had to accept reality. His days as Gligarman had come to an end.

"It's over."

And so, he turned off the lights of the Gligarcave never to turn them back on, and shut the doors never to open them again.

* * *

 

**_Many years after…_ **

Old habits die hard, and in Parker's case the crimefighting itch was one that refused to go away completely. Even though he wasn't fit to fight criminals directly anymore, he was still able to support the police through his extensive intelligence network, providing them with valuable information whenever they needed a hand.

Even when there were no cases to solve, Parker enjoyed playing detective just to kill time. After his retirement, his influence had expanded quite a bit in Johto and beyond. Over the past years he was surprised to see an uprising of other costumed heroes, such as the Blaziken Mask in Kalos, or the Mighty Accelguard in Unova, who continued his crimefighting tradition. However, in response to the recent crime wave in Johto a very particular opposition arose. A trio of heroes who were much more than costumes and expensive toys.

"Again with that, Dad?" He heard his daughter's voice. Latoya brought him breakfast on a tray, and he had been so focused on his computer he took a while to notice.

"One should kill time somehow, don't you think?" Parker asked, while his daughter placed the tray on the table.

"Sometimes I just don't get you. What's your obsession with these masked vigilantes?"

"They're more than masked vigilantes, dear. These guys are real heroes, like I used to be."

Latoya was practically the spitting image of her mother when they first met. They shared almost everything: the same red-purple hair slightly curled upwards on the sides, the same eyes, and even the same height at that age. But there was one glaring difference: Latoya was a bit more skeptical and cynical about some things.

"They're bloodliners. To be honest, I find it hard to believe they'd use their abilities unless they had some ulterior motive. I mean, who knows what else they're capable of?"

"Well, you might change your opinion when you see who they are under their masks."

Parker turned back his attention to the computer, and opened a folder with three specific files. Each one had a particular label: Decid-Arrow, Flashstrika and Flamestorm, collectively known as the Night Watchers, the names the common folk had given the vigilante trio in the past few years, and they seemed to have gladly embraced them. Parker opened the first file and it displayed a full profile. On top of everything there was the photo of a familiar face for both of them: a man with blond hair, green eyes and a slight trim beard. Latoya began reading out loud.

"Oliver Hawke, age thirty two, CEO of Hawke Industries since his father's passing. So you're telling me he's one of them?"

"See for yourself," her father replied. "Oliver's father and I were good friends until he died, so I know the kid pretty well. And look at this."

He played a video showing Decid-Arrow, dressed in his full suit with the Decidueye mask and the dark green hooded cloak, deploying himself to pull out a retractable bow from his left gauntlet, and then firing a Spirit Shackle arrow.

"Oliver was the archery club's captain back in his school days, so it wouldn't be too hard to deduce where he got that aim and superb mastery of the bow and arrow."

Latoya didn't say anything, so she instead continued reading the profile, showing Oliver's life résumé and some of the videos of him appearing under his costumed persona. He showcased other abilities such as disappearing through the floor and the walls, or other attacks like Leaf Tornado. Eight years before, Oliver had been lost and presumed dead at sea when his private yatch sank, but he returned to civilization safe and sound, just in time to assume leadership of his family's company when his father passed away a few months later.

"Next," Latoya requested. Her father clicked on the file labeled as Flashstrika. The screen showed a guy with auburn hair, a few years younger than Oliver and with a rather jovial demeanor, highlighted by his amber-colored eyes. "Bartholomew J. West, age twenty seven. Until a few years ago he was a rescuer from Nimbasa City's fire department, until an incident during a thunderstorm when he was struck by a lightning bolt. Somehow he survived both the lightning and the fall, but he was in a coma for nine months, until he mysteriously vanished from the hospital one day."

"And here's the interesting part," said Parker, as he showed several short clips of the speedster wearing the black suit with white lightning streaks all over. "Eye witnesses have said that the day he disappeared there was a power outage, and some of them claim to have seen a lightning moving through the darkness at great speed. Seems familiar to you?"

Obviously he referred to the electric trail he left in his wake whenever he ran. The fact the description matched the incident of his vanishing from the hospital couldn't be just coincidence. Once again, the pieces all fell into place.

"Let's check the last one," said Latoya, prompting her father to open the third file, labeled as Flamestorm. This time it showed on screen a man in-between the other two in age, with dark brown hair and blue eyes, and in the videos he appeared as a guy with a red and yellow costume shooting fire from the skies. "Ronald Storm, age twenty nine, formerly a structural engineer. He was presumed dead in the Johto thermoelectric plant that exploded eight years ago, when he single-handedly contained the blast long enough for the workers to escape safely, but nobody knows how he did it, or how he made it out of there, for that matter."

"The answer is in this photo," said Parker. The photo in question was from the incident, taken by a bystander who happened to be in the zone when the explosion occurred. Parker zoomed into the upper right corner, where they could see, almost imperceptible with the normal zoom, a very small fire strand flying away out of the plant and towards the night sky.

"Let me guess, that little fireball over there is him escaping the blast?"

"Can you think of something else?" her father asked.

Indeed, the videos showed the vigilante known as Flamestorm was able to shoot fire from any part of his body, and he was most commonly seen shooting fire streams from his hands and feet like makeshift rocket boosters to propel himself into the air. That would definitely explain how he got away from the plant's explosion that night. The fact that both his civilian and hero names included "Storm" was just a plus.

The three had a few things in common: they were all involved in incidents that pulled them out from public view for several years, until they reappeared almost at the same time. And shortly after that, the Night Watchers (called that since they mostly operated at night) began their activities. Plus, the latter two, Bartholomew and Ronald, were employed by Hawke Industries, apparently at Oliver's request when they found themselves unable to return to their former jobs.

"Well, this is interesting and all, but I don't know what you're planning to do with all this info." Latoya crossed her arms. "What's the point in investigating them and finding out their secret identities?"

"I'm not sure," Parker admitted. "Call it a hunch. Somehow I get the feeling something big is about to happen, and that they'll all be involved."

Times had changed, and they would continue to change. The biggest change was of course the birth of so many bloodliners, humans with powers and abilities like those of Pokémon. Back in his time, forty years ago men like him and Samuel Oak had been able to make the world enter a new era, and it seemed they were approaching another turning point for change. Would it be a new age of heroes, or perhaps a rising of criminals like never before? That was his concern, the question he wanted an answer for.

"You'll have time to think it over later. Remember, we have a party to attend," Latoya said. "Do you want me to pick your suit?"

"No, it's fine," Parker replied as he took a sip from his coffee. "I'll do it later myself."

Of course, he couldn't forget about that night's event. Politician Kellen Roberts was hosting a charity event, and he was to be a major sponsor for his campaign in the upcoming senator elections.

* * *

 

**_That evening…_ **

Attending charity events was nothing new for the Parkers, though over the years it had become difficult to hang out with the high society snobs. In fact, many of them only took part in those events to keep up their images and reputations, not because they actually cared for helping the needy.

Of course, the exception proved the rule. One of the reasons why Parker supported Roberts' politics was his position of helping the lower classes to progress more, but more than giving away benefits, it sought to get them into the workforce and use their talents so they could help themselves, thus contributing to the general economy.

That night though, he wasn't particularly interested in that. His main goal was to approach the son of his late old friend and talk to him from hero to hero, so to speak, though that wouldn't be easy with so many people around. He needed to talk to him where they couldn't be overheard or interrupted. Latoya offered to walk around the party to search for him, and in the meantime, he was staying by the table enjoying a drink.

"Good evening, Mr. Parker. I'm glad you could make it."

Surprise, the host himself had come to greet him. Kellen Edward Roberts was a man in his forties, though at first glance anybody would believe he was at least a decade younger. He had dark brown hair and wore thick square-framed glasses. That night he was wearing a black tuxedo with a white bowtie, and a fleur-de-lis.

"Good evening, Mr. Roberts," said Parker as he shook his hand. "Or should I call you, future senator Roberts?"

"It's still a bit too soon for that," Roberts replied with a smile. "I hope you and your daughter are enjoying the party. Speaking of, where is she?"

"Looking for someone else among the guests. Someone we're hoping to talk to tonight," said Parker, not going into deeper detail about it. "By the way, how's the campaign going?"

"We've had some issues, but we've managed to get a lot of support. Of course, not everyone is happy about it." Roberts grimaced slightly at the last part.

"Let me guess: it's Swietenia again?"

Roberts nodded. "Then again, the guy has always been rather unpleasant with things he disagrees with. It's bad enough that our region has its reputation just because of a few guys like him, and let's not talk about us who come from Azalea Town. I mean, not all of us are a bunch of Slowpoke-worshipping fanatics, are we?"

Parker nodded. Azalea Town had earned some infamy due to several nasty incidents involving bystanders who accidentally tripped, stepped on or otherwise touched Slowpoke tails. They usually ended with said bystanders chased out until they ran past the town's limits, or if they were caught, beaten up, _badly._ There was one time they went overboard and beat up a man so badly that he was sent to the hospital with polytraumatism in the head, and sadly he died a few hours after afterwards. All because his daughter accidentally stepped on a Slowpoke tail trying to save a baby carriage from being rolled over by traffic.

After that incident, Parker collaborated with Roberts in a project to relocate the Slowpoke wandering around the Azalea streets to a reserve area where they could live without being bothered by humans and prevent more incidents like that one. The measure had been successful, though there were other problems arising, and Swietenia and many of his followers didn't help.

"I've heard he's been trying to pass anti-bloodliner laws," Parker said to break the silence. "What do you think about it?"

"Swietenia is a guy who is afraid of what he doesn't understand, and rather than trying to see things from the other side, he prefers to nip anything he doesn't agree with in the bud. Like bloodliners, vigilantes, and _especially_ bloodliner vigilantes."

Parker nodded. "He's more prone to judge people for what they _could_ do rather than what they _have_ done. What's your own stance about them, though?"

"You should know." Roberts smiled. "I was aboard the train that day, when those Team Rocket agents attempted to derail it. I owe them my life; if it wasn't for them we wouldn't be talking right now. And it's not just me; they have saved many other lives during all these years. It wouldn't be grateful of me to pass laws against them when they do a service to the community."

Despite having so many enemies for his more liberal stances, the truth was that the Azalea Town politician was more open-minded about trying to find new possibilities and see every perspective, never judging people on biased assumptions or criteria. That alone had earned him a lot of approval during the past few months, and it would continue to grow.

"Mr. Roberts." One of the event's employees came to them. "We've got the podium ready for your speech, sir."

"Thank you. Well, I must take my leave. Pleasure in talking to you, Mr. Parker."

"The pleasure was all mine, sir."

While Roberts left with the employee, Parker went for another drink as he glanced around the hall. A few minutes later, Latoya finally returned.

"Did you find him?"

"Yeah but… I think he's got his hands full right now," she said as she pointed over her shoulder.

Parker looked behind his daughter. Indeed, Oliver Hawke was there, wearing his elegant suit and surrounded by a quartet of attractive women with whom he exchanged drinks and words, and they laughed at his jokes.

The retired superhero couldn't help but chuckle. Another common tendency of masked heroes was to project two different images when in and out of costume to protect their identities. In his case, back in his day he was an affable yet professional toymaker by day, and by night as Gligarman, he would let loose his sense of humor a little more, as a way to provoke the criminals and humiliate them once he got them. Oliver, on the other hand, preferred to take a "millionaire playboy by day, and intimidating vigilante by night" approach.

"Well, I guess that means it'll be better to talk to him after the event ends. Thanks sweetie," Parker said.

Father and daughter remained silent for quite a while, until the speakers announced the host was about to deliver his speech. Everyone began gathering in front of the podium in the center of the hall, and the aspiring senator got in position, before clearing his throat and addressing the crowd.

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. It is a pleasure to see so many of you tonight. I would like to take the chance to give my thanks to those who have offered their support for my senator campaign."

Roberts sent a look to where the Parkers were, who smiled and nodded back, prompting him to continue his speech.

"But today I won't talk about politics. As you all know, the goal of this event is to gather funds for the new extension for the Goldenrod Trainer Academy. Having been a Pokémon trainer myself in my youth, I want to support the new generation so they have a bigger chance to chase their dreams…"

Parker and the rest of the crowd continued to listen to Roberts' speech with a lot of interest. If there was something else that defined him, it was his affinity for Pokémon. He had been an exceptional trainer, having a rather famous team in Johto for winning several League Conferences, both in his home region and abroad. Even though they were retired, they were still living legends for many, and a source of inspiration for the new emerging generation of young trainers.

Nevertheless, Parker knew from experience that even during quiet moments he couldn't let his guard down, and while he still had his attention on the host, his eyes and ears were alert for any movement or activity that could be considered out of the norm.

For example, when one of the attendants removed his glasses, apparently to clean them, and suddenly placed them in a position to reflect the light from the lamp hanging above.

Instinctively, Parker's eyes gave a quick glance across the room. The place was rather ample and there was little-to-no place to hide from sight… save for the balconies in the upper floor. So it didn't come as much of a surprise when he spotted in one of them a small glint, one way too familiar for his taste.

The glint of a firearm about to be fired.

"WATCH OUT ABOVE!" he yelled pointing above and interrupting the speech.

Everybody's attention went to that place, barely with a second's notice before the projectile was fired, right towards Roberts. The bullet hit him straight on the chest and everyone began screaming in horror as they saw him fall next to his podium. The security staff quickly moved and pulled out their guns, but the sniper had vanished from the balcony as the people around went into a frenzy of panic, most of them trying to run for the nearest exit, and the few who stayed tried to use their phones to call the police.

Parker and his daughter stayed back trying to help evacuate those who were left paralyzed by fear, though the father managed to catch on that Oliver took advantage of the chaos to vanish from the scene when he thought nobody was watching. And by "vanish", it meant "vanish by phasing through a wall". Fortunately nobody else saw it, so Parker took the chance to approach Roberts to check on him.

"Mr. Roberts!" he called out, while the security staff tried to keep him away.

"Ugh… it's fine… I'm fine…" Roberts started moving, rubbing himself on the place where he had been shot, ripping open his suit to reveal a concealed bulletproof vest underneath. "This is gonna hurt tomorrow."

"What a relief," Parker asked. "That sniper… how the hell did he get in here?"

"That's irrelevant," the bodyguard said. "What matters now is that this area isn't safe, sir, we need to get you out of here."

As the bodyguard helped Roberts get back on his feet, Parker glanced around once again. Mysteriously, the guy who had made the gesture with his glasses has all but vanished. Somehow he felt that had been a signal for the sniper, a call to take his shot, so it was all planned.

And his suspicions grew even more when instead of leaving through the front door, the bodyguard led Roberts to the back exit. At first glance it seemed like a sensible choice: a route to get away from sight, but also a place where an ambush could be set up.

Moved by a spark of his instinct, Parker immediately ran after them.

"Dad! Where're you going?! Dad!" Latoya cried out, but he didn't listen. He had to go and do something, whatever it was. The itch to play hero had returned; he couldn't stay put.

After running through a few hallways, he managed to catch up to Roberts and his bodyguards, following at safe distance to avoid being spotted. However, he stopped abruptly after hearing a couple more of shots, and an exchange of blows. When he dared take a peek, he saw Roberts' bodyguards lying on the ground, with only him and the perpetrator still standing.

Said perpetrator was wearing an armored suit, made of black leather with a few protective plates on the chest, shoulders, gloves and boots. He carried a sniper rifle hanging from his back, and a utility belt that carried holders for a couple of knives and handguns. His face was concealed by a helmet-mask with red goggles that resembled those of a skier. Roberts was motionless, but from what he could hear, he was trying to show defiance to his attacker.

"Very smart, Mr. Roberts. If it wasn't because aiming for the head isn't as easy as people believe. I didn't expect you'd be wearing a protective vest."

"I see they weren't exaggerating when saying that I should be wearing it," Roberts replied. "Who are you, and why are you targeting me?"

"Just a professional," the sniper replied. "Don't take it personally, this is just a job."

Parker saw how the guy drew a handgun from his belt, and almost gave in to the urge to jump him to protect Roberts, but someone else beat him to it: a dark green caped shadow phased through the ceiling and landed behind the aggressor. Without a word he grabbed him by the shoulder and threw him to the other side of the corridor.

Parker took the moment to leave his hiding place, seeing the Ghost Archer himself, Decid-Arrow, face-to-face for the first time, and a Roberts who was still in shock for what happened and still hadn't fully assimilated it.

"I'll take it from here, go!" Decid-Arrow yelled.

"Come with me, Mr. Roberts!" Parker yelled to snap the politician out of it, and they both ran in the opposite direction, though Parker still glanced one last time to see the caped vigilante engaging the sniper in a fistfight.

For the lack of a better alternative, Parker led Roberts through a fire exit, always on alert in case there was someone ready to ambush them again. Fortunately, they were able to reach the parking lot safely, and without wasting a minute they headed for Parker's car, where Latoya was waiting for them on the driver's seat. She seemed a bit angry, but was clearly more out of worry than anything else.

"Where the hell were you, Dad?!" she shouted as she opened the door.

"I'll tell you later, step on the gas and let's go!" her father replied. "To the Police Station, now!"

The girl still had a few things to say, but she complied, and started the car to get them all out of there. By that moment, the parking lot had been cleared off for the most part, and they were able to get out rather quickly.

As they drove away from the party hall, Parker glanced at the building. Had Decid-Arrow not arrived when he did, Roberts would probably be dead now. He had been there, but there was nothing he could have done. He wasn't Gligarman anymore after all, and in any case, what could he have done with that sniper who was clearly a walking armory?

…

Within the safety of the Police Station, the first thing Roberts asked for was some cold water to calm his nerves, and something to call home, since his cellphone had been pierced by the bullet the sniper had fired at him. Parker lent him his own cellphone, and he had been using it for the past half an hour to talk to his wife; hearing her voice seemingly put him at ease after such an ordeal.

"Whatever happens, keep an eye out. I'll be back as soon as I can, so don't stay up and wait for me, okay? I love you, goodnight honey."

"Is everything okay?" Parker asked.

"Yeah, thank Arceus." Roberts nodded. "Apparently the security staff spotted some fellows in black strolling around the block, but they didn't move in. I told her to stay in the safe chamber just in case, though."

"I can't believe this," said Latoya. "Who was that guy?"

"A contract assassin, most likely," Parker replied. "He said something about it 'being a job', didn't he?"

Roberts nodded. "Should I feel flattered? It's the first time someone sends a hitman against me."

"Mr. Roberts, this is no joking matter," Latoya chided him.

"Sorry. It's just… I don't even know what to think about this." The politician exhaled.

"Mr. Roberts," the stationed Jenny called him, "we're ready to take your testimony. We'll also need your vest and cellphone as evidence."

"Sure," he said before turning to the Parkers. "I'll be back when I'm done with that, alright?"

Father and daughter nodded, and the politician left for questioning. For the time being, there was nothing left to do but wait until they were called as well. Latoya gripped her coat and gave a heavy sigh.

"So… guys in black going around the Roberts' residence, and the same night he's targeted by a killer. Coincidence?"

"I don't think so." Parker shook his head. "For all we know, they could have been waiting to ambush him, just in case the attempt at the party failed."

"So much for taking a night off to relax, huh?"

Parker just gave her a glance, and then looked at the interrogation room's door. With all that had happened that night it'd be a while before they could go home. The police had plenty of questions for Roberts, and they sure enough would have their fair share for Parker as well.

Something was going on in their city, he could feel it. His old superhero sixth sense was clicking in for something big. And he didn't like that feeling; it never bode well.

* * *

 

**_A couple nights later…_ **

"In tonight's news, the charity event host by Azalea politician Kellen Roberts was ruined due to what clearly was an assassination attempt. Roberts has refused to give any declarations for the time being, although there are rumors that it could be one of his political rivals trying to get him out of his run in the future senator elections to be held in six months as announced."

"I'm not going to point fingers to anyone," Roberts declared. "Regardless of who might have hired that assassin, or the reasons why, I can assure you they'll be brought to justice. That'll be all."

"Despite what happened, Roberts has announced the event will continue tonight as scheduled, with increased security and a bigger police presence. Security has also been increased at his residence since eyewitnesses report to have seen men in black strolling around the area suspiciously. The authorities are-"

Parker turned off the TV. He didn't need to see the rest of the report: after all he had been there firsthand to see it all. And after that eventful night, he had been unable to shut his eyes.

He had many reasons to feel at unease. For starters, with that guy's attack he was unable to properly approach Oliver about his secret, and even though there weren't any casualties, many in the security staff were hurt and ended up hospitalized. Furthermore, he doubted that the perpetrator would give up that easily, since he had been reported to have vanished from the scene shortly after the masked vigilante confronted him.

And there he was, in front of his computer and completely helpless to do anything about it. He hated feeling that powerless. He could have gone to the continued charity event, but he seriously wasn't in the mood for parties.

The feeling was fortunately short-lived, since as if answering his prayers, a video call signal went off in his monitor. He clicked the icon, and the screen showed none other than his long-time friend in the police force.

"Hey Gio, good to see you," he greeted her with a smile.

"Same here. I wish we could talk in better circumstances, but considering what happened the other night…"

"I know. If there's anything I can do to help, you have but to ask."

"Thank you," the elderly Jenny replied. "To be honest, I have a favor to ask of you. The forensics guys have been investigating the scene, and they found something that intrigues me."

"What is it?" Parker asked with interest.

"After checking the bullet we found in Roberts' Kevlar vest, we discovered it was laced with a strange alkaloid. Its composition doesn't match with our available database, and I thought..."

"Say no more," Parker interrupted her. "Do you have the analysis?"

"I'm sending you my copy of the results as we speak," Gio replied. "What intrigues me the most is that we didn't find it in any other bullet fired that night: only in that one."

The file took about fifteen seconds to fully transfer, and Parker set the cursor on it to display the alkaloid.

And his face paled in shock.

"This is…"

"Do you recognize it?"

"It's the personal signature of the international killer known as ' _The Pride Sniper_ '," said Parker in a low voice.

"Wait a minute... isn't that the contract assassin most wanted by Interpol?" asked Gio, clearly alarmed at such thoughts.

"Indeed." Parker nodded. "He uses it specifically for the bullets destined to his targets. That way, even with a non-fatal wound, it guarantees the victim will die of poisoning in a few hours. Traces were found in all of his confirmed victims, since that's how he claims credit for those killings."

"I can't believe this; somebody actually hired _him_ of all people to off Roberts?"

Parker grimaced: he could list at least ten people who'd want Roberts' head. Most of his programs had implemented measures to abandon traditions that were (to his judgment) too old-fashioned, useless and absurd. While the changes had been for the better in the long run, in short terms they usually caused a lot of stir, especially among his opponents.

The retired superhero couldn't point fingers, but he had a pretty good idea of who was the most likely to be at the top of that list.

"What are we going to do? That killer always ensures to tie all loose ends to prevent his clients from being found out, and he's never failed to kill a target, from what I've heard."

"Well, we'll have to be sure this becomes his first failure," Parker said. "Seems like my hunch turned out to be true. Something big is about to happen, and Roberts will be in the center of all."

He remained silent for a bit before continuing. The toymaker involuntarily looked at the old secret entrance to his hideout, the one he had closed for so long, and then turned back to his old friend from the force.

"Gio, I'll have to ask you to keep this a secret. It if comes to light, that killer could resort to much more dangerous methods to get his target, and he'll care little about collateral damage. And even if we do catch him, it won't do any good if we don't find out who hired him."

"Parker… I know that look in your eyes, are you thinking about…?"

Parker didn't reply. He'd been hearing that calling for a while, but didn't pay much attention to it until now. As a matter of fact, his main motivation to approach the son of his late friend had to do with it, but now… if this was much bigger than he thought, the new generation of costumed heroes could benefit from his experience and expertise.

"Do you trust me?" It wasn't so much a question as it was a fact.

"I trust your judgment, but keep me informed about what you do," the elderly policewoman replied. "You know I hate being locked out of the loop."

"Don't worry. If we want to catch that guy, I have the feeling we'll need all the help that we can get. Talk to you later."

And so he ended the call, and walked up to the old entrance. Latoya wouldn't be back for a while, so he figured she wouldn't notice if he went for a little walk at night.

If he couldn't approach Oliver during the party, there was another way to do so. And the sooner he did, the better.

* * *

 

**_Much later..._ **

Latoya had offered to attend Roberts' event for the two of them, so she wouldn't be home that night. Good thing, that way she wouldn't see he was planning to swap his tuxedo for his old exosuit before he took to the streets once again.

Roof-hopping was no longer as easy as it used to be, and he needed to rely more on his gliding wings and grappling gun to get across the city. That said, he did feel a wave of nostalgia of his first nights on patrol, when he was a rookie hero trying to learn how to swing between buildings, imitating the "Amazing Spinarak-Man" comics. Those were good times.

Parker quickly shook off those thoughts. He needed to focus on the task at hand. In the past few years, while organized crime lords were less in numbers, those who managed to get a slice of the turf were more dangerous than in his time, and the small time crooks would occasionally take advantage of the night's darkness to do some 'late night shopping' every once in a while.

That night, there didn't seem to be any around the zone.

"Gligar!" His partner came over flying and perched on his arm, shaking his head.

"Nothing going on in this district? Well, I guess we'll have to hit the next…"

And when he was about to shoot his grappling hook, glasses breaking and an alarm going off got his attention. Focusing his mask's visor, he zoomed in the direction and saw a convenience store had just been rammed by a car, whose occupants were starting to come out all covered in ski masks.

"I suppose catching a few thieves tonight won't do any harm." He pulled out a couple of Gligarangs, ready to go down and give them a lesson.

However, before he could jump off the roof, a purple flash flew across the scene, straight to the assailants when they were about to get their booty into the car's trunk. The crook carrying the cash register was hit by the arrow and fell to the ground, so Gligarman glanced in the direction it came from, spotting the masked silhouette on another rooftop as he prepared another shot.

The driver quickly stepped on the gas and started the car, even while the other two crooks tried to call out for him, and wisely decided to hightail out of there before Decid-Arrow would get him. That'd make things easier for him: Parker didn't doubt the archer could handle those guys easily, but by giving him a little assist, he'd get the perfect chance to talk to him face to face.

"You go ahead, I'll catch up," Gligarman requested.

Gligar nodded and took off, flying after the getaway car. The veteran superhero quickly made use of his grappling gun aiming to the next building, and swung down to intercept.

The vehicle fled through a narrow alley and scrapped against one of the walls, but it kept moving forward, hitting every trash can in its way, and driving away the stray Pokémon trying to get food out of them to avoid getting hit.

The ride came to an end when Gligar got on the windshield, and the driver panicked and lost control. When he hit the brakes, the vehicle rolled over and flew through the alley, forcing Gligar to fly away and watch how it crashed a couple times until it fell upside down.

A few seconds later, the driver came out with difficulty through the broken windshield, with a few bruises and scratches but none the worse for wear, it seemed.

"Ugh…" he muttered as he tried to get back up, and a caped figure landed behind him and grabbed him by the collar. "Hey, let go! Let go of me or I-"

A gentle smack on the back of the neck silenced his screaming and flailing around, and he was left hanging by Gligarman's hand. A couple minutes later, Decid-Arrow made his entrance phasing through the walls, and he stopped upon seeing them. While Parker couldn't see it through the mask, he had the feeling the archer vigilante was probably surprised to see him.

"I hope you don't mind," said Gligarman as he pointed at the criminal. "I was in the neighborhood, and I thought you could use a little help."

"Appreciate it," the archer replied with gratitude. "Weren't you retired?"

"Things have changed." He placed the criminal on the ground and pulled out a set of cuffs to leave him ready for the police. Once he was done, he turned back to Decid-Arrow. "We need to talk."

**…**

A few minutes later, the cops had cordoned the area around the store and were taking the crooks in. In the meantime, the two caped vigilantes had retreated to a clear rooftop, away from prying eyes and ears.

"I think it's better if I cut straight to the point," Gligarman said. "For starters, I know who you are… Oliver."

Decid-Arrow flinched slightly at the name. Obviously, the last thing he wanted would be someone knowing who hid beneath the mask, so Gligarman tried to ease his worries by smiling and lifting his own mask, as well as deactivating his voice modulator, as a gesture of trust.

"I wanted to talk to you about this during the party, but we both know how that went down," he continued. "Rest easy, your secret is safe with me."

"How did you find out?" the archer asked, lowering his hood and removing his own mask to reveal the face of Oliver Hawke underneath. "I did my best to wipe any trace that could link me to the Night Watchers."

"And you did well, I admit it," Parker said. "But I started in the crimefighting business long before you were born, and I know the steps to cover the trail. Plus, this is much easier for us billionaires with expensive toys, isn't it?"

"I guess you're right," Oliver said, as they both donned their masks again. "Well, what did you want to talk about? I don't think you'd get into that costume after so long just for a party."

"Indeed. With how things have gotten lately, I can't help but feel something big is about to break out, and the events of the other night just confirmed my suspicions."

Decid-Arrow tilted his head slightly, so Gligarman took a deep breath before explaining. This would probably take a while.

"A friend of mine in the police force asked me to check off the records one of the bullets they retrieved yesterday at the place. Long story short, the clue leads to an infamous international hit man. Tell me, are you familiar with the assassin known as the Pride Sniper?"

"Not much. Only that they say he's the most effective and merciless, and he never fails to kill his targets. Was that the guy I fought last night?"

"That's right. I'm guessing you'll agree he wasn't your average thug. That guy is a professional."

"No kidding. Lucky for me that I wear a fire-resistant cape, or those fire grenades could have left a mark on me."

"With all that has been going on lately, I think your team and I could help each other in this," said Gligarman. "Do you think we could all meet up sometime? That way I can tell you all what I know at once."

Before Decid-Arrow could answer, a beep went off near the archer's ear, and he pressed to activate the communication signal.

"Decid-Arrow here, what's up?" he asked. Gligarman waited until he got his response. "Roger that, I'm on my way now. Out."

"Is there a problem?" Gligarman asked.

"Looks like there was an attack at Roberts' estate, but my friends have everything under control. If you want to come along, you can tell us everything you need. Plus, I think they'll be thrilled to meet you in person. You were… quite the inspiration for us, you know?"

Gligarman smiled, he felt flattered to know the new generation of heroes had been inspired by him. Without further words, he grabbed his grappling gun and gestured clearly for "let's go". Decid-Arrow pressed a button on his right gauntlet, pulling out a retractable mini-bow gun on his forearm. They both shot their hooks and cables to the nearest building, swinging as they made their way to the other end of the city.

A formidable team was about to gather very soon.

* * *

 

**_Meanwhile, at the city's outskirts…_ **

If you wanted something done, you'd have to do it yourself, or so the saying went. The question was, how were you supposed to do something yourself, when your obstacles included a pair of freaks with superpowers?

Her client had hired her to steal the Pokémon belonging to the politician Kellen Roberts; worth millions on their own, since they had quite the history as Pokémon League Conference winners. What they wanted them for was irrelevant; all that mattered was the paycheck she had been offered for them. An easy job for a hefty sum, or so it seemed at first.

"I should have asked for at least three more digits to the payment. If only I had known I'd have to go up against those freaks…"

Having been out of Johto to avoid getting into Team Rocket's turf she had missed out on many of the news, as she could see right now in her monitor. Her plan was simple enough: raiding the politician's estate while he was out hosting an event. The security staff was no match for her men, but when those two showed up, everything went downhill.

At first glance they were just a pair of guys in silly costumes: the first one with a red and yellow suit, with gloves and boots sporting a flame design, and his hair literally on fire; while the second wore a black suit with white lightning streaks all over, and gave off electric sparks all over his body. The burning man flew through the air shooting fire streams and explosive spheres, while the other ran around with literal lightning speed, leaving an electric trail in his wake. Despite there being only two of them, they were able to defeat her henchmen in a matter of seconds, leaving them all set for the police to take them away. Of course, she knew they wouldn't talk, and should they feel the temptation… she had an insurance.

"Ma'am, we've got an incoming call on the restricted channel," her communications officer suddenly said.

"This better be important," said J. "Bring it up to visual."

The communications officer began pushing some keys, and a few seconds later the communications channel was open. The main monitor in front of J turned on, showing a man seemingly in his forties, with dark brown hair and wearing a pair of dark shades very similar to J's own. He had a rather enigmatic smile.

"Greetings, Pokémon Hunter J. Pleased to make your acquaintance."

"Spare me your flattery. Tell me who you are and what do you want by contacting me."

"In order, I'm a professional of the underworld, just like you. As for what I want, I'm contacting you with a proposal than can benefit both of us."

"Explain yourself," the hunter coldly replied. She had no time for small talk. "And you haven't answered my first question, _who_ are you?"

"I have many names, but my pseudonym of choice at work is simply the Pride Sniper." He removed his shades, revealing a pair of red eyes. "You might have heard of me."

J didn't answer, but indeed, she had heard about him. Nobody knew his real name, but it was said that he was one of the best, if not _the_ best, contract assassin in the criminal underworld. Just like her, he worked for money, but he kept a degree of trust with his contractors, always keeping his end of the deal and ensuring his clients would never get implicated in his killings.

"I'm aware of your recent attempt to steal the Pokémon collection belonging to politician Kellen Roberts, correct?" the guy continued. "Well, that means our jobs are connected. You see, he's my current target, and you perhaps know I always fulfill my contracts."

"And how does that concern me exactly?" J asked. "You said you had a business proposal."

"Isn't it obvious? From what I learned, you had some trouble with the local vigilantes, just like me. With them interfering it could be hard to achieve our goals. So my proposal is, we form a temporary alliance. I could provide you with technology that would help get those vigilantes out of your way. Plus, with Roberts out of the picture, stealing his Pokémon would be much easier for you."

"Tempting," the hunter admitted. "But why did you come to me? A professional like you should be able to handle something like this on his own."

"I could, yes, but it wouldn't be the most efficient way," the Pride Sniper declared. "Together we can cover more ground, and help each other divide our foes' attention. Don't get me wrong: this is just a simple job, and I wouldn't ask for more than you can do. The equipment to fight against a bloodliner is on me, of course."

"I take it you've had your share of run-ins with those freaks?" J replied, a little less tense now she had heard the offer.

"Once or twice," he replied. "What do you say? Do we have a deal?"

J half-smirked. She wasn't exactly fond of working with 'colleagues', but given the circumstances, she'd have to make an exception. That said, for an assassin who had a reputation of maximum efficiency and coldness, he turned out to be quite polite and convincing with his offer. A man worthy of her respect, and one she wouldn't like to cross.

"I'd rather seal the deal in person, if you don't mind," the hunter finally said.

"As you wish. Right now, I'm at outskirts north of the city. You'll find me easily if you know where to look. Until then."

And then he cut off communications. J's face once again became tense. It was weird to run into another professional of the underworld in the middle of a job, and even weirder to collaborate with him. While she had her reservations, the truth was that the Pride Sniper, for all his reputation as a cold and merciless professional hit man, was also known for greatly valuing trust and always staying true to his word. That was probably where the "Pride" in his name came from.

Tough choice. On the one hand, she would appreciate the help in getting one or two of those vigilantes off her back to get her job done. On the other hand, she would have to _trust_ him, and she couldn't trust anybody who wasn't under her command. That meant being vulnerable to potential betrayals.

Weighing her options, she decided that the risk might be worth it, from a utilitarian viewpoint. All she had to do was to make sure _not_ to give the Pride Sniper a reason to come after her. Rumors in the underworld said that things _always_ went badly for everyone who double-crossed him, but as long as you kept your end of the deal, you were safe from his wrath.

"Start the engines. It's time to regroup and plan a new course of action."

The airship's engines roared to life, and it began flying towards the meeting point. She'd better make these negotiations to be worth it.

**_To be continued…_ **


	2. Chapter 2

**_On the night skies of Johto…_ **

Finding her fellow underworld worker wasn't that hard. After all, one could easily make their presence known by using spy drones sent to explore the general area as target practice. Apparently he was doing it just for show and to get her attention.

Hunter J wasn't amused, and she actually reprimanded him because replacing those drones would be expensive, but the Pride Sniper (or simply "Pride") quickly offered her the blueprints of his own drones. Much smaller, more efficient and harder to spot, as well as surprisingly lower on maintenance cost. That at least served to placate her ire for the time being, since it was time to discuss in detail the terms of that temporary alliance for their current jobs.

"Impressive," the sniper said as he watched the videos of J's men fighting, or rather, being swatted like flies by the bloodliner vigilantes. "Your men, I mean, to think they lasted as long as they did."

"It wasn't like you fared better going solo against the other, am I wrong?" J replied coldly.

"He caught me off guard, that's all. Now I know what they can do, we can take proper measures." The sniper pulled out a USB drive and plugged it in the console. "I like to study my foes when I have the chance, and you'd be surprised how easy it is to defeat them once you know their weaknesses."

"You seem very knowledgeable about them," said J. "I don't face them often, and I'd rather keep it that way."

No kidding. Her encounters with those freaks had left more than a bad taste in the mouth. Facing against a Pokémon was one thing, since it was easy to imagine what they could do. But a bloodliner… that was a different story. A human with a Pokémon's power was unnatural, something that shouldn't exist.

"The more you know of your foes, the more resources you can use against them," Pride said. "Between your own relay, and what I've been able to gather on my own, it'll be easy to take care of these guys. I have a good idea of what they're capable of."

He began by showing her a video taken from his own point of view, thanks to the micro camera hidden in his goggles. Specifically, his fight against the vigilante with a Robin Hood complex, judging by his choice in costume and weapons. During said fight, he tried to shoot him with one of his handguns, and the archer shielded himself behind his arms. Normally that would have been a foolish choice, except that his limbs took a metallic energy layer, causing the bullets to bounce off of them. The way he shook his arms afterwards suggested that the bullets actually caused him pain, but probably no more than what to a normal human would've been a few bruises.

"Was that a Steel Wing?" J observed. She had seen that move enough times to recognize it, plus she had taught it to her Salamence recently as a countermeasure against Fairy-types. The metallic glow was unmistakable.

"And there's more," the sniper continued. "This guy has formal combat training, and knows how to combine it with his power. Just check this out."

To make his point clear, he continued playing the video. After the bullets failed, the Pride Sniper decided to engage him in close quarters combat, wielding his knives, to which the vigilante responded with a pair of eskrima sticks concealed in his boots. Nothing unusual at first, until a couple of green energy blades protruded from the sticks, forcing Pride to step back to avoid getting slashed. He then threw a few fire grenades to get away, and the last thing he saw was the vigilante using his cloak to shield himself from the burning blast.

"Alright, aside from the obvious use of Leaf Blade with those sticks, what else are you trying to show me?" the hunter asked.

"I thought it was clear enough," Pride replied. "This guy doesn't use that ridiculous costume just because: it's an identity mark, of what he's capable of. He phases through walls and floors like a ghost, and those attacks can be learned by the Alolan Grass-type starter evolutionary line. Plus there's his reaction to fire, one of the grass's natural weaknesses."

J glanced at the sniper. She quickly got the message: basically the bloodliner had the same strengths and weaknesses as the Pokémon he was associated with. That being the case, she could think about how to deal with the other two. It was time to show them.

"If your guess is right, then it should be obvious how to deal with these two," she said. "The match head guy only generates fire, so dousing him with a good Water-type attack, or blowing him away with a strong wind while he's in the air should leave him out cold. And aside from the obvious weakness of an Electric-type, the best way to deal with a speedster is to get him to stop running."

Pride nodded. "Good to see we're on the same page. I think I'm going to enjoy working with you."

"I still don't understand why you came to me. I mean, I do appreciate assistance when I need it, yet…"

"Never hurts having someone to watch your back, or to call in favors when you need it," said Pride. "Call it a utilitarian trade-off. You help me, I help you. You betray me, I kill you. It's that simple."

J smirked. That was a mindset she could sympathize with, and she agreed it was practical, at least on the part of 'calling in favors'. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to work alongside the Pride Sniper after all.

"So, what's your plan?" J asked.

"After our failed attempts, they'll know for sure we'll be back. Our edge, of course, is that they don't know we'll be working together, and it'll be better that way."

"I agree." J nodded. It would also help uphold her own reputation. "They'll probably wait for a chance to take Roberts and his Pokémon to a safer location. Our best chance is to get them while he's traveling."

J then pressed a button to display a map of the entire city, with a red dot to highlight Roberts' residence, the place where she had attacked before. They had increased their security around several blocks, which meant it wasn't a good chance to attack yet. J then pressed the button again, generating several paths in different directions starting from the residence, and going to the city's exits.

"I've mapped all possible escape routes they could try to use. My guess is that they'll try to reach this private heliport to get Roberts out of town. If it wasn't because I need his Pokémon to be in prime condition, I would gladly blast him out of the sky."

"Not to mention it would rob _me_ of my perfect killing record," Pride added. "So, I'm guessing we're going to set up ambushes in as many routes as possible, and wait for our chances, am I right?"

"We could extrapolate the most likely ones, based on accessibility and speed to reach their destination," J pointed. "That way I can spare more men to deal with those freaks if and _when_ they show up. All they need is the proper gear to face them."

"And that's where I come in. Believe me, those vigilantes won't know what hit them."

Hunter and Sniper quickly exchanged glances. Strange, they hadn't known each other for more than two hours, yet they seemed to get along rather nicely. For a temporary partnership, she was actually enjoying it.

And she didn't like that one bit. Better to get that job done as soon as possible so they could break it off and go their separate ways.

* * *

 

**_Meanwhile, at the Parker's manor…_ **

After the events of the previous nights and sharing their versions of what had happened, Parker agreed for Oliver and his teammates to come and visit him at his home so they could discuss in detail the actions they would take.

Father and daughter had led the trio to the old underground hideout, the "Gligarcave", as they called it, so they could begin making their plans. Sufficed to say that all of the present-generation heroes were pretty excited to visit the place, though they all expressed it in different manners.

While Parker and Oliver were having their traditional 'older-hero-to-younger-hero' chat, Latoya had decided to socialize a bit with the other two: Ronald "Ronnie" Storm, and Bartholomew J "Bart" West. Or as she internally called them: the "Burning Man" and the "Lightning Speedster". Unlike Oliver, the little she knew of them was what her father had investigated about them when he figured their secret identities, so she had no clue as to what kind of people they were.

It went without saying that they made… quite the impression on her.

"Wow! Forgive the expression, but this place is bitchin'!" the speedster said as he dashed from one corner to the other, trying to get a good view of all the trophies.

"Be careful not to break anything, Bartholomew!" Latoya warned him.

"Don't call me that! You can call me Barty, Barry, or Bart, but never by my full name," he replied. "Anyhow, this is a museum of superhero history! Check this out, Ronnie, it's the Gligarmobile MK-III, my favorite iteration! What I would give for driving one of those!"

"Yeah, even if _you_ can outrun any of them," Ronnie replied as he crossed his arms.

"So what? You can fly, yet you love planes yourself, don't you?"

Latoya saw Ronald, or Ronnie, rolling his eyes at the comment. It seemed like the two contrasted one another personality-wise: the speedster was hyperactive, talked non-stop (sometimes without making pauses), and apparently was unable to stay in the same place for over three seconds. On the other hand, Ronnie showed a calmer and more composed demeanor, though he wasn't adverse to make the occasional joke. He looked like a completely different person to the one she pictured when she saw those videos, with him burning in flames and acting like he was always furious.

"Is he always like that?" Latoya asked the pyrokinetic vigilante.

"Nah, just when we're off-duty. He can be serious when we have to," Ronnie replied. "Anyway, since your father and Oliver are busy right now, is there anything here I can use to kill some time? An obstacle course or something?"

"Dad's got a target practice area, if that's good enough," the girl answered.

"That'll do just fine."

Latoya guided Ronnie to a lower area, a rather spacious one at that. There was a square platform, with four shooting-like devices on the corners. She gestured him to get in the center of the square while she turned on a console and a scoreboard appeared on the wall behind them.

"You have twenty seconds to destroy ten targets fired from random locations," she explained. "If they fly past the limit area, or they hit you, you'll be penalized. You ready?"

"You can start whenever you like," said Ronnie, making a flame appear in his fist, as well as his eyes.

Latoya pressed the button to start the simulation. Ronnie got in position and barely two seconds in, the devices fired off a pair of flying discs at him. He shot a small fireball from his hand at the one coming from the front, and turned around to hit the second one.

Parker's daughter watched carefully at the pyrokinetic vigilante. She had to admit she was impressed by his aim, and he blasted each of them rather easily, even if several of them were a bit too fast and almost got away. The scoreboard marked **"10/10: Perfect".**

"Wow, that was pretty good, I'd say," said Latoya, who couldn't help but give him a few claps. "Obviously this is easier for those who have powers. Though you could have tried to use less than ten shots."

Ronnie tilted his head in confusion. "There are ten targets."

"Have you tried to take down more than one target at once?" Latoya asked.

"I… guess that I don't have to do it often," Ronnie admitted.

Latoya rolled her eyes. That was a bit of a basic skill she had learned from reading her father's old hero journals. Those included a few things like how his gadgets worked, a few basic combat techniques and more, and she had taken to read them in their free time. She wondered why her father didn't keep them under lock.

"Let me show you. Get over here."

Ronnie walked up to Latoya, who showed her how to operate the console to activate the exercise. First he had to press the reset button to restart the scoreboard, and then the start button to get it underway. With everything explained, she took a gauntlet and a belt full of Gligarangs and stood on the center of the training area. She gave Ronnie a nod to get started.

"Ready? Go!"

Like before, the flying discs were fired. Unlike Ronnie, she sidestepped and waited for the first two discs to intersect in a straight line, before firing a dart from her gauntlet and piercing through both of them at the same time.

For the next two, she grabbed one of the Gligarangs from her belt and tossed it. The razor projectile hit the first disc and it arched to hit the second shortly after, while she fired a dart from the gauntlet to hit the fifth.

Waiting for the next wave, she grabbed a pair of smaller Gligarangs and tossed them as two more discs flew over her shoulders, hitting them both at the same time. But that was nothing compared to the last wave: she waited for the last three to be fired, and then until they all intersected in the middle of the training area to fire another dart from her gauntlet, piercing all three of them.

The scoreboard once again lit up, but this time showing **"10/10: Exceptional!"**

Ronnie whistled. "Wow, now _that_ was impressive. I might have to try it like that sometime."

"It's not that hard," Latoya replied, as she playfully spun around her finger a shuriken-like Gligarang. "Besides, sometimes you might find yourself surrounded, so hitting multiple targets could save your life."

Next, she held the razor projectile and aimed to a stalactite on the ceiling. The Gligarang flew in a perfect curve and landed true. Who'd have guessed she'd gain such aiming skills from playing darts for so many years?

"Then again," she continued, lowering her tone as she grabbed a second Gligarang and threw it, "when you have powers, you're less likely to be in danger and more _the_ danger."

"I can't help but wonder… do you have something against bloodliners, our powers, or something?" Ronnie asked.

Latoya had to make a pause, as she thought of a proper answer. "I'm not against bloodliners per se, I just don't sympathize with people in positions of power who could potentially do whatever they wanted. Especially when normal people like me couldn't do anything about it."

"You think we'd do something to hurt people?"

"Fire is an element that can be both a source of life, and destruction. You guys might be among the good ones, but you can't deny there are those who are willing to use their abilities to commit crimes."

And she knew it well: her father had fought a few back in his time. Especially that terrifying woman, whose name he preferred not to utter out loud because of the memories it brought. She had only heard it once, and she too decided not to say it out of respect for him.

Her thoughts about bloodliners and Gligarman's glory days were interrupted by a lightning flash coming over to her.

"Well, I think that's it for the tour," Bart said. "You think the Chief is done talking with Mr. Parker?"

"I figure they must be by now," Latoya replied. "Let's go check it out."

**…**

In the meantime, Oliver and Parker had been checking some data on the Gligarcave's main computer. They had been looking over the security feed from Roberts' murder attempt, and the veteran hero shared his known intel about the hitman they were facing against.

"Nobody knows his real name, and during his career he's actually gone through several aliases to make it much harder to track," Parker explained. "His M.O. is pretty well-defined: he'll always use a clean bullet laced in the alkaloid to kill his victim, and he'll erase any trail that can implicate his client on it. In turn, his clients need to keep their mouths shut and never divulge anything about him."

"Was one of his contractors ever caught?" Oliver asked.

"According to official records, there were these two who threatened to expose his identity," said Parker. "They were found with bullet wounds and traces of the same alkaloid he uses for his targets along with a written message: 'I Hate Traitors'."

"What a guy." Oliver cringed. He seriously sounded like someone one wouldn't want to cross. "Well, at least we do know he won't stop until he gets a bullet through Roberts. The security staff has been making plans to take him and his family to a safe house tonight, so he'll most likely try it again when he's on the move."

"And that's where we'll come in," Parker continued. "We can offer some backup and ensure that Roberts leaves the city safe and sound. However, we have another problem."

Oliver nodded, and he immediately inserted a USB drive in the slot, showing a video of his own. It showed the fight, for a given definition, between his two teammates and the guys who attacked Roberts' residence that night. They were no match for Ronnie and Bart, but the fact they had gotten rid of the security staff so easily was alarming.

"From the police's official declarations, they had been staking around the block for at least a couple of days before they attacked," Oliver explained. "The weirdest part was that they weren't interested in kidnapping Ms. Roberts for ransom, or in stealing valuable items. Apparently all they wanted was to steal the Pokémon collection they have in that place."

"Did you find anything else about them?" asked Parker.

"The idiots have refused to talk, but among the gadgets we retrieved we found some interesting clues. I don't know if you've heard of this woman, Pokémon Hunter J."

Oliver clicked on a file to show two mug shots of a woman with silver hair, the first wearing a pair of dark shades and the other without them to reveal her icy blue eyes, giving off a rather appropriate demeanor for a criminal.

"This woman was very careful to erase her past records. All that is known is that she's been working as a mercenary who steals rare and valuable Pokémon to sell on the black market," Oliver explained. "She's not like our Pride Sniper: collateral human or material damage is irrelevant, but she always ensures that the Pokémon she steals suffer no harm, to get her full pay."

"It makes sense." Parker nodded. "Great, so we have two psychos for hire on different fronts attacking the same target."

"Our only advantage is that they're not working together. Dealing with one of them is already hard enough as is."

Despite that silver lining, Parker decided it would be better to be ready for that scenario, if only hypothetically speaking. As unlikely it would be that they were in contact, the possibility couldn't be dismissed. Being one or two steps ahead of his opponents had saved his life many times.

"So then," Ronnie's voice called out, "you guys done seeing who we're up against?"

Oliver turned around. "Yeah, we're done here. The next step is to decide what we're going to do. Mr. Parker?"

"For now, all we have to do is wait," the veteran hero replied. "My old friend in the police force said she would meet with us to discuss the plans to move Roberts and his family to the safe house. We'll be there to watch their backs just in case."

"When are we gonna do that?" Bart asked impatiently. "Not like I'm in a hurry or anything, but if there's nothing to do in the meantime…"

"You won't have to wait for too long," said Latoya, pointing at one of the monitors. "Look at that."

The screen showing the city's overview showed something very peculiar: a circle image, with a Gligar silhouette was projected over the night sky. Parker smiled: he hadn't seen that in years, but he recommended that Gio should reactivate it now that he was out of retirement.

Bart grinned. "Cool! Maybe we should get one of those."

"Well, let's not leave them waiting," said Oliver. "Suit up."

As the Night Watchers went to get their hero gear, Latoya stood by one of the display cases, specifically the one holding the original Gligarman costume. She looked at it from head to toe, and let out a sigh.

"Something wrong?" Parker asked, already wearing his full costume. It was quite a stark contrast compared to the original one, more heavily armored and with a much darker motif.

"Nothing, just… I wish I could be out there helping you."

"I won't be alone. Oliver and the others will have my back," Parker assured her with a smile.

"Still, I'm not feeling well staying here while you risk life and limb. Is there something I can do?"

Parker rubbed his chin in thought. "Actually… there _is_ something you could help us with."

* * *

 

**_Over the city's rooftops…_ **

Gio Jenny felt somewhat strange to be standing next to the Gligar-Signal. She was even more surprised to see it was still functional after having it in storage for so long. However, something was for sure: her old friend would always come when she projected the light on the night sky.

That said, she was a bit surprised when Gligarman told her that 'he'd bring some friends along'. While she imagined who they were, seeing it herself made it the much more real.

The first to arrive was Flamestorm, slowly descending using his fire to land over the rooftop. A lightning flash followed shortly after, running up the building's wall before stopping next to him.

"For the record, I got here first," the pyrokinetic said with a bit of taunting.

"Yeah? For the record, I checked the perimeter five times before coming up here, just in case," the speedster replied.

The police commissioner tried not to laugh. Perhaps she tolerated them going around the streets, but she had never actually worked with them directly, so she had no idea what to expect of them.

A few seconds later, Decid-Arrow and Gligarman followed, using their grappling guns to climb up to the rooftop. Gio glanced at her watch and smiled before facing them.

"Less than fifteen minutes of response. Earlier than I expected."

"I thought we should come as soon as possible," Gligarman replied.

"When you said you had a friend in the force, I didn't imagine it would be the commissioner herself," said the archer.

"We made a pretty good team back in his glory days," said Gio. "I see you modified your old suit quite a bit."

"Just a few minor upgrades," Gligarman admitted.

The veteran policewoman smiled again, before taking a serious expression. "As much as I'd love to talk about our old times, there are more pressing matters." She turned off the signal and grabbed her tablet, flipping through files until she found what she was looking for. "Roberts and his wife are still under surveillance, but the preparations for their transport will be ready in a couple hours. To increase the security measures, we'll be taking them in separate vehicles. We'll have them reunite in the heliport to take them to the safe house.

"What about Roberts' Pokémon collection?" asked Decid-Arrow.

"We have designated a third transport for them specifically. They'll stay at Professor Elm's laboratory until things calm down a bit."

"Is that really a good idea?" Flashstrika asked, crossing his arms and tilting his head. "You know how absent-minded Professor Elm can be when he dives too much into his research. And there's that time when…"

"That only happened once," Flamestorm interrupted. "And I'm pretty sure he's got enough people to remind him of that."

"If you're worried, his aide will be taking care of safeguarding the Pokémon," said Gio. "Let's not bring that incident up, shall we? Anyway, we'll have three more transports on the ready to act as decoys, but they'll all be escorted and defended. Once we get to the middle points outside the city, we'll switch vehicles to continue, and hopefully lose any possible attackers."

"And we'll be there for additional backup, is that right?" asked Flamestorm.

"Correct," said Gio. "Hopefully, with one of you close by it would deter them from making any attempts, but if that's not the case… you have free authorization to proceed as you see fit."

"Meaning that, if possible, we should capture some of them for interrogation and try and find out who put them up for this job," said Decid-Arrow. "Which routes will the transports follow?"

For the next half an hour, the police commissioner and the vigilantes discussed what each of them would do. First, the cars taking Roberts and his wife had higher priority and thus at least one of them had to keep close to act as additional protection. Gligarman and Decid-Arrow decided to assume said roles.

In the meantime, Flamestorm and Flashstrika could use their flight capacity and super-speed respectively to cover more ground and watch the other transports, especially the one carrying the Pokémon should the Hunter show up. Much better for them if she did, as that would give them a chance to apprehend her.

Of course, the main priority during the mission was to keep Roberts safe, and as a secondary goal, to catch the Pride Sniper when he showed up again.

"Alright, it's all settled," Gio concluded, and then checked the time. "We have two hours before departure. Please get in position and be ready for the operation."

"No need to worry, Commissioner. We'll catch those crooks in a flash," the speedster assured her. "They won't know what hit them."

"Hey, don't forget our main goal is keeping Mr. Roberts safe," said Flamestorm.

"Yeah, but arresting the bad guys would be a plus, wouldn't it? Why waste the chance?"

"If we can get them, we will, but Flamestorm is right," said Decid-Arrow. "We must focus on keeping Roberts safe from harm until the transfer is complete. In the meantime… let's take a few rounds around the block in case there's some small-time criminal before we go. You coming, Gligarman?"

"Go ahead. I'll catch up to you."

"As you wish. Alright, Night Watchers, let's go!"

That said, each of them left in his own way: Flamestorm propelled himself into the sky, leaving his fiery trail behind, Flashstrika ran down the building's walls and took to the streets with his lightning streak, and Decid-Arrow jumped off the roof extending his cape to glide before firing his bow gun grapple to swing across to the next building.

Thus, Gligarman was left alone with his old friend, as he saw the current generation of heroes going off to the streets to do their job. The policewoman walked up to the building's edge.

"They're an interesting trio. It's the first time I've talked to them up close."

"Really?" Gligarman asked. "You were always much more open with me."

"That was another time, and I was much younger," Gio pointed out. "Besides, not everyone in the department sees them with good eyes. The others tolerate their presence as long as they help us, but no more. I took a while to convince them to accept additional help, even though we clearly need it."

"I agree." Gligarman nodded. "I don't think I could have done this myself. I've grown too old."

"Did you ever consider passing the torch to someone else?" Gio asked.

Gligarman shook his head. "Not really. Back then, there wasn't anyone I could actually entrust the role of Gligarman."

"And now?"

Gligarman gave it some thought before answering, taking a deep breath. "My daughter might have some issues with the current generation of heroes, but… I know she has the heart in the right place. But I don't think she's ready yet. She needs to know exactly what she's getting herself into."

Gligarman and Gio glanced over the city, both of them silent for a while. His mantle was something important to him, and he had to be sure he'd leave it in good hands. His daughter could be the right person to do so, but before that, she needed to sort out some of those issues.

Namely, of her learning to trust other heroes, and judge them for what they were, instead of what they could potentially become.

"Before I go, I have something for you." Gligarman took one hand to his belt, grabbing a couple of glass tubes filled with a light blue liquid. "Hopefully it won't come to that, but in case someone might get hit by the Pride Sniper's bullets, this'll help counter the alkaloid."

"Always one step ahead, I see." Gio smiled. "Then again, I would expect no less from the man who'd always carry a vial of Sharpedo repellent in his belt."

"Hey, you never know when you might need it." The vigilante chuckled. "And lest you forget, it _did_ save our lives that time."

"I'm _still_ trying to forget that." The woman rolled her eyes, but accepted the tubes with the antidote nonetheless. "In any case, it'll be better to be prepared. It's nice to work with you again."

"Same here, old friend."

Vigilante and Police Commissioner shook hands, happy to team up with each other after so long. In their long history together they both contributed to put an end to the Golden Age of Crime, and now they were determined to prevent it from resurfacing again. Of course, they'd need the new generation's help for that, as neither of them were as young as before.

**…**

From the rooftop, Gligarman gazed at the Roberts' residence gates. The patrol cars and armored trucks were starting to park in front of the entrance, with just a few minutes to go before the operation began. They were waiting for Roberts and his wife to come out.

While it wasn't the first time he took part in an escort mission, to watch and protect someone, he was a lot tenser than ever before. He didn't think he could face it alone, so knowing that he had the Night Watchers' support was encouraging.

Plus, there was someone else to help direct the mission. As soon as his communicator began beeping, he pressed the button to activate it.

" _Communications channel open,"_ Latoya's voice called. _"Is everyone online?"_

" _Decid-Arrow here, standing by."_

" _This is Flamestorm, looking good from up here."_

" _Flashstrika here, ready to go anytime."_

"Gligarman, everything's fine here. Do you have visual feed, Watchcave?"

" _We need to talk about codenames later. But yes, I got it_. _Wow, when you told me you wanted to show me the world through the eyes of a superhero, I never expected it'd be this way."_

" _You actually sound rather excited right now,"_ Flashstrika quipped.

" _Just a little bit,"_ Latoya admitted. _"But I'm confident I can be serious enough for this. After all, I'm supposed to be your eyes in the sky, right?"_

"Right," Gligarman said. "And our lives might depend on it."

Latoya would have liked to be out there to help somehow, but her father didn't feel she was ready to go out on the field yet. So instead he suggested she act as mission control and direct them from the cave, sitting in front of their supercomputer. It was convenient that the interface was very similar to that of her father's company, so it didn't take her too long to get used to it.

Gligarman and each of the Night Watchers had been equipped with visors linked to send video feed to the computer's monitors, which coupled with the satellite map of the city would help with Latoya's role as an early alert system. That way they could be ready when their foes made their move.

" _One more thing. Decid-Arrow, are you sure you can handle this by yourselves?"_ Latoya asked. _"I mean, I think it wouldn't hurt to have some Pokémon for backup."_

Gligarman had to admit that was a fair point. For the most part, the Night Watchers usually relied on their own abilities and equipment, and they had never been seen using Pokémon of their own during their operations.

" _There's no need to worry,"_ the archer's voice replied. _"Should it come to that, we'll be ready."_

" _If you say so,"_ Latoya replied, still not fully convinced. _"Anyway, let's focus on the task at hand."_

"Roger that, Watchcave. We're counting on you. Everyone, be ready, it's about time," Gligarman declared, watching the gate as it opened.

Escorted by their bodyguards, Roberts and his wife left the limits of their estate, and each of them went to a separate transport. At the same time, Roberts' Pokémon collection, which usually were allowed to be out of their balls, had been placed inside them to be transported in one of the armored trucks. Some of those had empty Pokéballs to act as decoys, though Gio had already told Gligarman which of them would take the real ones.

There would be two decoys for each of the transports carrying Roberts, his wife and his Pokémon. While Gligarman and Decid-Arrow stayed close to watch over them, Flamestorm would keep an eye out from the sky for any threats, and Flashstrika would take care of doing some recon duty and clear the way out of obstacles should it be needed.

"The game is on, you guys," Gligarman announced.

The vehicles started up, escorted by the police patrol cars. They would drive through the wide main street before taking the alternate routes. The streets had been cleared off, with several routes blocked from traffic to avoid any issues, even though at the time most of the city would be asleep.

Gligarman grabbed his grappling gun and swung towards the next building. Above him, his Gligar also flew to watch his back while he kept his eyes on the vehicle transporting Roberts. From the other side of the street, Decid-Arrow did the same until he disappeared from sight behind a roof.

" _Main Street is clear,"_ said Flashstrika through the com, and Gligarman managed to spot the electric flash passing in front of the vehicles, and then quickly moving behind them before going back ahead.

After a while, the vehicles broke lines and began taking the alternate routes. Until then there had been no mishaps, beyond the occasional passerby or driver coming in out of curiosity and getting in the way, though they were quick to either leave on their own or be cleared off without much trouble by the speedster.

Gligarman wanted to be glad for that, but from his experience he knew calm was always the prelude to a storm, and their foes would make their move at any time. The question was how, and when.

The answer would come about half an hour later.

**…**

From the sky, Flamestorm could see things were looking good, but he couldn't rest on his laurels. Anybody with a few years in the hero business could feel it, something big would come at a moment's notice.

" _Flamestorm, you've got inbound from the north of the city,"_ Latoya's voice came through the channel.

The pyrokinetic vigilante glanced around in said direction. "I don't see anything, are you sure?"

" _Switch to thermal vision,"_ Latoya suggested. _"Something's coming, something_ big _."_

Flamestorm pressed the button on his mask, activating a pair of special lenses. Where there was nothing before, a huge mass, about the same size of a luxury plane or bigger, showed up. The pyrokinetic vigilante approached as he charged a fireball in one of his hands.

Once he was at minimal distance, he threw the fireball, and it exploded against an invisible wall. Whatever was behind it became visible for a few seconds in a rainbow-colored translucent barrier. The flying vigilante quickly tapped his communicator again.

"You were right. They must be using some kind of cloaking technology," he said. "Look at the size of that thing."

" _Cut the chatter and stay focused. They can hide from sight, but our satellite can still detect their engines' energy emissions,"_ Latoya replied, and then switched from her serious tone to a more excited one. _"Right on schedule, it's show time."_

As if on cue to having been found out, a hatch opened below the invisible airship, deploying several six-wheeled vehicles on the streets below. Their engines roared to life and they began driving towards the transports. There was no way he could focus on all of them at the same time.

"Guys, looks like you're gonna have some company," Flamestorm said. "I'll try and lure them out of that ship."

Preparing himself for the imminent battle, Flamestorm's eyes began burning with fury. Whatever it took, he had to take down the foe inside that airship.

**…**

Down below in the streets, Flashstrika raced around all over the place, checking out that the transports he was supposed to protect, both the decoys and real ones, continued their advances as scheduled. More specifically, he had focused his attention on the armored truck that carried the Pokémon collection, and everything was going smoothly, until a beeping in his communicator broke the tranquility.

" _Flashstrika, the enemy airship has deployed ground vehicles on the streets. Two of them are approaching your position and will intercept the armored trucks in less than two minutes."_

"Not if _I_ intercept them in less than one," the speedster replied.

" _Confident in your quick response time, huh?"_ Latoya quipped. _"Keep going forward, then turn right at the Keystone and 14th intersection. You should be able to see them."_

"Got it. It's Flash time!"

The speedster charged up and ran off in the aforementioned direction. Doing an almost perfect 90° turn at the intersection, he spotted the vehicles. No doubt they were the criminals, after all, civilians would hardly use black six-wheelers twice the size of an RV, and with missile launchers mounted on top.

The aforementioned launchers fired each one of their projectiles at him. For normal eyes, they would have come way too fast, but for him, they were coming in slow-motion, like everything else around him when he triggered his super-speed. The living lightning ran forward, intercepting the first projectile in midair and twirling it around so it would change direction and hit the other. He then focused his attention on the two vehicles coming at him.

"Wanna play target practice?" he said as he stopped for a couple of seconds, before running off again.

In doing so, he left behind a doppelganger of himself, and then another, and another, and many more. The vehicles continued to fire missiles, and when that didn't work they just opted to try and hit him directly. Too bad for them all they did was to fizzle out his speeding mirages, and one of them ended up hitting a fire hydrant, splashing water all over the street.

"Let's see how you like this!" he said, raising both hands to summon electricity, and then slamming them on the wet ground. The water sped up the discharge and zapped the vehicles, causing their engines to short out and stop dead in their tracks.

Shortly after, the vehicles opened their hatches and the goons came out, all of them carrying Great and Ultra Balls, which they quickly aimed at the speedster.

"Really, why don't we just spare the formalities and get down to the part where I kick your asses?"

"Get him!" one of them shouted, throwing two Great Balls to reveal a pair of Glalie. "Freeze him now!"

The ice faces charged up a dual Ice Beam attack, which they quickly fired at Flashstrika. The speedster thought he could easily dodge the attacks just by running, but much to his surprise, they weren't aiming at him: they were aiming for the ground to coat it in an ice layer, so as soon as he stepped on it…

"WHOAAAAAAAAHHH!"

Running as fast as he was, he couldn't stop in time and ended up skidding over the slippery road, until he tripped and rolled over to a stop quite a few feet ahead. As he got back on his feet, another pair of Ice Beams froze his lower body and prevented him from running away. As the goons approached, he tried to send an electric discharge with his hands, only for one of them to pull out what looked like a portable satellite dish to absorb the attack.

"Tough luck, speedy," the goon said. "You won't be running around for quite a while, and your electric attacks won't do much for you with this baby here. And we're ready in case your friends decide to come by and help you. Not that they're going to do it anyway."

"So you planned ahead, huh?" Flashstrika smirked. "Well, I'll give you some credit, but you're idiots if you think I'd come here without some additional backup."

He pressed a button in his gauntlet, and a hidden Ultra Ball came out, which he immediately burst open. "Say hello to my friend here!"

"Electivire!"

In the midst of the criminals' shock, Flashstrika outstretched a hand, firing of an electric blast at his partner. "Here's a little treat, buddy!"

"VIRE!"

Even if he couldn't attack them directly, he could give Electivire a speed boost. Once charged, the Electric-type focused his attention on the goons, and more specifically the two Glalie facing them. Lunging with literal lightning speed, Electivire charged against the nearest one to deliver a spot-on Brick Break right in the middle of its eyes, knocking it at least two blocks away. The other tried to fire an Ice Beam, only to suffer the same fate in the opposite direction of the street.

"It's just one Pokémon, get him!"

Everybody else began throwing Pokéballs at them, and out came several Pokémon clearly chosen to counter Electric-types: two Rhydon, three Onix and even a Steelix. The Rhydon quickly stampeded against Electivire to ram him with their horns, but the Electric-type dodged the first, and grabbed it by the tail to slam it against the other.

The Onix then tried to fire a Rock Blast and Flash Cannon barrage, and Electivire countered by coating himself in a yellow outline. Using the Magnet Rise's power, coupled with the speed boost from before, he zigzagged around the raining rocks and silver beams, and propelled himself in the air up to the Steelix's eye level. He then raised both hands over his head, ready to drop down with a hammer strike.

"ELEC!"

The blow on Steelix's head echoed through the nearby block, and the metal snake staggered back a little, giving Electivire the chance to go after its lesser cousins. While the criminals fell into disarray at Electivire's rampage, they turned their attention away from Flashstrika, who had already decided how to, literally, break out of that frosty situation.

"EEAAAAARRRGHHH!" A burst of flames exploded from the speedster's body, shattering the ice surrounding him. "Oof, I hate having to do that, but this is an emergency."

" _Flashstrika, are you alright?"_ Latoya's voice called through the channel.

"Yeah, just fine," the speedster replied, less upbeat than usual. "Looks like these guys weren't as stupid as we thought."

" _I'll tell the others to be careful. Stay on guard, and even if this sounds weird, try not to rush into things, okay?"_

"The first I can do, the second, can't make any promises." The speedster turned off the communicator, and then glanced at his Electivire, who still tried to zap as many of the goons as possible while also delivering some punches to their Pokémon.

Flashstrika quickly got behind the guy holding the electric absorber and smacked him on the back of the neck. He grabbed him by the collar so he wouldn't hit the ground, but as soon as the device was dropped, the speedster raised a foot glowing white, and then delivered a powerful Stomp attack to shatter it, rendering it useless and no longer a threat.

"You think that's the only one we have?!" another grunt shouted pulling out a second device. Two others followed suit, surrounding him and aiming their weapons at him.

"Well, how much of my power those toys of yours can absorb?" the speedster asked with a cocky smile. "Let's find out!"

With those words, Flashstrika began running in circles, creating an electric ring to trap the goons as he threw lightning bolts at them. In turn, they aimed their weapons to absorb the shock attacks one after another, just as before. However, in less than a minute, one of the devices began giving off sparks, and the wielder's eyes widened as it went critical.

Finally, after absorbing one too many volts, it overloaded and exploded in the guy's hand, knocking him backwards and causing the other two to become momentarily distracted. Flashstrika seized the chance and rammed them from the back, taking both devices and destroying each with a Stomp like the first one. Right then, Electivire finished the last pair of Rhydon with a Brick Break to their guts, and quickly joined his master.

"I think we can leave these guys to the police. Let's go see if the others need some help. Think you can keep up?"

"Vire!" Electivire nodded and extended his hand forward.

Speedster and Pokémon sent out an electric discharge each. The exchange supercharged both of them, and they quickly raced off through the streets.

If these guys were prepared for him, they probably had done the same for the others, and they could run into trouble.

**…**

Elsewhere, Decid-Arrow had spotted two six-wheelers approaching one of the transports, specifically the one holding Roberts' wife. He pressed the button on his gauntlet to deploy his bow, and taking an arrow tip from his utility belt, he waited for the thing to get in range.

"Target locked-on," he said as he took aim.

Creating a Spirit Shackle arrow and lining it up with the tip on the bow, he waited for the vehicles to get close enough. Once he gauged the distance he fired the arrow, hitting the nearest one in the windshield, and seconds later the arrow tip exploded creating a thick smoke cloud. The vehicle quickly swerved out of control and crashed against a telephone pole. The other hit the brakes, forced to break the chase and allowing the transport to slip away safely.

The communications channel then beeped. _"Decid-Arrow, can you hear me?"_

"Decid-Arrow here, what's wrong, Watchcave?"

" _I'm picking up two hostiles coming in from Starling and the 39th. They're heading for the transport carrying Roberts' Pokémon collection."_

"Can anyone else handle it?" the archer asked. "I need to make sure these guys won't go after Mrs. Roberts transport."

" _Gotcha covered there, Chief,"_ Flashstrika's voice replied. " _I'll be there before you can say 'Flashpoint'!"_

" _Flashpoint,"_ said Latoya with a cheeky tone, causing everybody to go silent for a couple seconds. _"What? I just meant to test it."_

"Watchcave, don't spoil his fun," Decid-Arrow said, rolling his eyes. "Catch you later, I'll have to deal with our friends here."

As he closed the channel, the six-wheeler's front door opened, allowing its occupants to come out. There were four of them, two holding Pokéballs in their hands and the other two carrying bazookas.

"Eat this, you freak!" the first one said pulling the trigger.

A fiery rocket was launched at him. The archer narrowed his eyes and quickly vanished under the ground. The rocket impacted on the pavement and exploded, while the four goons took positions all over the block to try and anticipate where he'd come from to attack them.

"Stay alert, everyone, he'll try to sneak up from behind!" another shouted, throwing his two Pokéballs in the air and letting out a pair of Kangaskhan.

"Let's see how he likes this!" His nearby friend threw his own two, revealing a pair of Houndoom, rather vicious-looking, and growling around with hunger. "There, there, good boys, soon you can have your roasted snack. Now, sniff out that ghostly freak."

The angry dogs calmed down and they started sniffing the air. They looked around and after a while, they growled and barked as they spotted a shadow on the other side of the street materializing into a human cloaked figure.

"FIRE!"

The Houndoom fired twin Flamethrowers at the archer, whose immediate reaction was to shield himself with his cloak until they stopped. Once it was over, he grabbed his eskrima sticks and rushed for close quarters combat.

"Fire Fang, use your teeth!"

The black dogs jumped on him, their fangs coated on fire and ready to take a bite at him. Decid-Arrow ducked under the first and slammed the second on the neck, knocking it away, while the Kangaskhan tried to flank him.

"You'll have to do better than that," he said.

"Oh, we will. Kangaskhan!"

"Kanga!"

The twin cries of the Kangaskhan alerted the archer to the incoming attacks, as the first was readying a Mega Punch. He immediately turned intangible and let the attack phase through him as he channeled Leaf Blades through the sticks, delivering a double slash across her chest. He looked over the shoulder, and saw the other coming with the same attack, and he was about to dodge it the same way...

"Umph!"

But the punch connected. Hard.

Decid-Arrow ended up knocked away and crashed against a nearby building. The goons quickly smiled in satisfaction as the archer tried to get back on his feet, but clearly pained due to that punch. The first Houndoom quickly seized the chance to jump at him with another Fire Fang, biting him in the arm.

"Argh! Let! Go! Of! Me!" he shouted as he pounded him with his stick. Even with the suit's padding and the fireproof cloak, he could still feel the fangs and the heat. The dog finally let go of him, but the Kangaskhan came again, this time with both fists glowing brightly.

"Kanga! Kanga!"

A Double Hit, and Decid-Arrow barely managed to reinforce his arms using Steel Wing as he covered himself. While he avoided taking too much damage, he couldn't prevent the attack from knocking him away again.

"How the hell… I see now. That Kangaskhan has Scrappy, doesn't it?"

"Surprised?" the goon commanding said Kangaskhan said smugly. "Took you long enough to figure it out."

Pretty clever; they had intentionally brought Kangaskhan with different abilities to throw him off, and it worked. While he wasn't seriously injured, his back and arms were still sore from he hits, and obviously it'd take him a while to recover enough to fight at his best again.

"Now, stand still and we'll make this as painless as possible. Flamethrower!"

The Houndoom quickly rushed back and launched their fire. Decid-Arrow tried to take cover under his cloak, but then a quick purple blur flew past him, placing itself in the attacks' way.

"Gligar!"

A sand tornado engulfed both Houndoom, cutting off their Flamethrowers and sending them spinning through the air, and Decid-Arrow saw the purple flying scorpion hovering in front of him as he continued to send out the sand barrage.

"Damn it! Take cover, everyone! Ack!"

In the midst of the Sandstorm, a bigger purple shadow fell on the goons and knocked the lights out of them, while Gligar made short work of the Pokémon, taking advantage of his Sand Veil to sneak up on them before they knew what hit them. After it subsided, Gligarman stood before him, and Gligar perched on his shoulder as he approached.

"You alright, kid?"

"Still hurting in the back, but at least I didn't break anything," Decid-Arrow replied. "Thanks for the help, though."

Gligarman was about to say something else, but his communicator beeped. "Gligarman here, please tell me you've got good news."

" _I wish. The enemy is spreading throughout the city to cover the escape routes. Flashstrika is trying to drag their attention, but even he can't be everywhere at once, and Flamestorm is busy trying to lure the guys out of the big ship."_

"We're on our way," Gligarman said before turning it off. "Things seem to be getting complicated. These guys are no slouches if they were ready to face you three."

"But not to face _you,"_ Decid-Arrow added. "Clearly they were prepared to counter my abilities, but you might give us an edge."

Gligarman nodded. Both heroes aimed their grappling hooks at the nearest building, and quickly climbed to the rooftop, ready to continue their mission.

The threat was bigger than expected, and they'd be better off working together instead of separately.

**…**

Whatever that shield was made of, something was for sure: his fire attacks wouldn't be enough to pierce through it.

Flamestorm had tried using normal fire streams and explosive fireballs, but he didn't even graze the airship. Lacking in better options, he tried to find a weak point to attack, but his search, first futile, soon turned to dangerous when the vessel deployed its weaponry, including Vulcan cannons and missile launchers, which quickly fired at him. He was able to dodge the projectiles, but it made things much harder for him.

After a while, he caught that a hatch opened on the upper part of the ship, and something came out of it. Or rather someone: a female figure, with silver hair and a dark trenchcoat moving with the wind, flew towards him on the back of a Salamence. The opened jaws of the Pokémon began charging up an orange energy, alerting him to an incoming attack.

"So she finally shows up," he muttered, squinting his eyes as he prepared to dodge.

The Hyper Beam flew under him, when he used a fire blast from his feet to gain altitude. He immediately countered with another fire blast from his hands, which the woman ducked to dodge as she pointed forward. The Salamence's wings turned into metal and it charged against him, forcing him to fly down to dodge the charge as he tried to get behind them.

The Salamence turned around instantly along with its rider, who talked to him with a gelid voice. "Just as expected. You and your friends had to show up to interfere with my plans. I'll have to deal with you personally."

"Hunter J, I assume? Sorry, but that's not gonna happen." Flamestorm triggered his flames in his eyes to try and intimidate her.

J however wasn't even fazed by the gesture. "Let's show him what real firepower is."

Salamence opened its jaws to let out a Flamethrower of its own. Flamestorm however didn't bother to dodge, instead placing his hands forward, and before the fiery stream got to him, it stopped abruptly. The fire continued to concentrate into a large ball, as the pyrokinetic vigilante compressed it until Salamence stopped.

"I think this is yours!"

Flamestorm threw the ball back at them. Instinctively Salamence placed itself in a defensive position and used Steel Wing to shield itself and its mistress. The sphere hit with full force and the explosion forced the Pokémon to pull back, and the rider to crouch and hold on to avoid falling. The vigilante couldn't see the woman's eyes, but the fact she was baring her teeth was a clear gesture of anger.

Once she stabilized, the Hunter raised her arm and pressed a button on the gauntlet she was wearing. "Time to up our game."

Flamestorm didn't want to find out what she meant with that, so he immediately propelled forward, with the intent to knock her off her mount. Salamence veered aside to dodge the charge, and took its distance for another attack, this time with a blue draconic fire. Flamestorm placed both hands forward to shoot twin Flamethrowers of his own, managing to match Salamence's Dragon Pulse in power, and keeping it at bay until it finally stopped.

"You'll have to do better than that," he told the Hunter.

"Right back at you," she replied as she pressed the gauntlet once more.

Flamestorm wondered what she'd be up to, but choosing not to wait to find out, he charged once more to knock her off of Salamence. The woman outstretched a hand and aimed with her gauntlet to fire a luminous sphere, which the pyrokinetic vigilante quickly dodged.

Salamence switched to defensive and placed the Steel Wing as a shield, ensuring that Flamestorm would crash against it head on, and then with a single flap pushed him back quite the distance.

The fire hero stabilized quickly, and prepared to charge again, but his communicator beeped on him, and he was forced to answer. _"Flamestorm, multiple bogeys approaching from every direction!"_

"What?"

Looking around, he spotted several drones flying around and coming at him. The nearest one fired a high-pressure water stream at him, and he quickly pulled back to avoid it. However, another stream came from his left and doused his feet, causing him to lose altitude.

"DARN!" he shouted.

Flying in circles and trying to cover him from everywhere, some more drones came over and fired electric spheres at him. Flamestorm managed to dodge a few, but one came from above, stunning him on the spot.

Hunter J then approached him with Salamence, and smirked as she aimed with her gauntlet again. "This will ensure you won't cause me any troubles."

The next thing he saw was the projectile coming at him, and after a bright white flash, everything turned into darkness. He quickly realized he wasn't dead. After all, he was still aware of himself, and he could hear Latoya's voice through the communicator.

" _Flamestorm, what's the matter? Flamestorm, respond! I'm detecting you're falling!"_

Indeed, whatever that woman fired at him, it caused him to stop emitting his fire, and he felt he was falling into a void, going faster with each second. Despite being a bloodliner, if he fell from that height…

' _I have to break free… if I don't I'll just go splat…'_

He focused all the power in his body. While his ability enabled him to shoot fire from any part of his body, it was easier to do so from specific areas where he could focus it, such as the arms, feet and mouth. To unleash it from every pore in his body at once, though, that was much harder, if not impossible.

He had to do it, his life depended on it.

"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"

As if he was inducing a million mini-volcanoes to erupt, Flamestorm held back his stored power just a couple seconds, and then unleashed it in a single burst. The simultaneous fire blasts all over his body combined in one single big explosion, strong enough to shatter the material and breaking him free of that imprisonment.

He was left in a daze for a moment, but as soon as he felt the air coming back to him, he instinctively shot fire streams out of his hands and feet to gain altitude once more. He flew to the nearest rooftop and quickly landed to take a rest. Pulling that move caused him to become disoriented due to the amount of power unleashed in a single blast, not to mention he was already fatigued from his fight with J and her Salamence.

" _Flamestorm, are you still there? Answer if you can hear me."_

"I'm here… don't worry," the vigilante answered, taking a few deep breaths. "That woman's drones stunned me, and then she shot something weird at me. I couldn't move, and I had to go supernova to free myself."

" _Supernova? What does…?"_ Latoya seemed ready to ask, but she quickly changed her mind. _"Forget about it, let me check on something… yes, I've got it. She apparently uses some kind of expansive material to catch the Pokémon she steals. That way she keeps them untouched while at the same time prevents their escapes."_

"So, that's what she used with me?"

" _Most likely. Her signal's flying away from your position, but you can still follow her. But first, if you can pick up a shard of the material she trapped you in, it could be useful for analysis later."_

Flamestorm glanced around. The shards of J's trapping stuff had spread all over the place, but he was able to pick one up very near from where he had landed. Once he felt in flying condition again, he propelled to chase the Hunter.

It wouldn't be too hard to guess where she'd be heading to, after all.

**…**

The transports carrying Roberts and his wife reached the meeting point safely, and the vehicle change was about to get underway. Gligarman and Decid-Arrow decided to scan the perimeter, their weapons ready to fire at a moment's notice.

Despite not sensing any hostiles, both knew they were in the most vulnerable spot of the trip.

"Keep your eyes open, kid," Gligarman said.

"I know," the archer replied. "If there's a perfect moment for the Pride Sniper to attack, it's now."

And surely enough, the heroes' communication channel rang, as they both stood on alert for any eventuality.

Gligarman answered first, and Latoya's voice rang out with a strong sense of urgency. _"I'm picking up life signs from a few faraway rooftops."_

"How many?" Gligarman asked.

Latoya took a few seconds to respond, possibly trying to triangle the exact positions. _"Three in all, all of them in very good positions for a sniper. Though they'd probably need a long-range rifle to reach the target from that distance, we can't rule it out."_

"We'll have to get one each," Decid-Arrow decided. "Can someone take care of the third?"

" _Sorry, I'm still chasing Hunter J up here,"_ Flamestorm's voice intervened.

" _Leave it to me, gotcha covered, chief!"_ Flashstrika replied after.

" _Alright then. Flamestorm, keep the pursuit, and don't lose sight of the target. The rest of you, go to the spots I'm forwarding to you right now. We can't waste our time."_

As they received their destinations, the heroes mobilized immediately. Gligarman sent Gligar flying first to the building as a preemptive measure, before glancing one last time at Roberts and his wife as they got off their vehicle and moved to the second one. With that out of the way, he fired his grappling hook and swung in that direction, ready to get into the action.

In just a few seconds he was standing on a higher rooftop, glancing down at the one across the street. While at first he almost didn't see it due to being hidden in the shadows, the glint of ammo being loaded and then the scope lens being placed on the weapon made clear he was there.

"Oh, no you don't," he said as he pulled out an explosive Gligarang to throw.

The razor projectile flew true and stabbed itself on the weapon's scope. The beeping barely alerted the sniper enough to drop it before detonation, and the rifle was rendered useless by the explosion. As the criminal shielded himself from the shrapnel, Gligar and Gligarman landed before him, taking a battle stance.

"What's this? You're not one of the heroes we were expecting, are you?" the sniper said. Seeing him close he could recognize the same suit from the previous encounter.

"'We'?" Gligarman asked. That was weird, supposedly the Pride Sniper worked alone, so that should have been 'I', not 'We'.

"Oops, shouldn't have said that," the guy replied as he pulled out a knife from the boot and grabbed a Pokéball from his belt.

Gligarman prepared to attack, though he couldn't get that little slip off his mind. By saying 'We', he seemed to imply all the attacks from before had been coordinated. Somehow, he felt that slim chance for that scenario of the two criminals working together had just skyrocketed.

Furthermore, there was another weirder thing: was it just an impression, or the guy he was fighting with had broader shoulders than he remembered from the past night?

The sniper released the Poké Ball, unleashing a large, bipedal reptilian Pokémon, maroon with black stripes and a white belly, and its face looked like it wore a domino mask. It then roared a "Krookodile!" and with a snap from its trainer's fingers, it extended its claws and prepared to slash at them.

Gligar immediately reacted shooting Swift stars from his tail, but the enemy Krookodile slashed them all without issues, and kept going forward to deliver a double slash at the scorpion, knocking him away.

"Gligar!" Gligarman shouted, his attention dragged from his foe for a second. In turn, the sniper kicked him in the gut and almost stabbed him with the knife.

The veteran vigilante however managed to intercept the attack, holding the guy by the wrist and throwing him above the shoulder, slamming him on his back against the ground. He quickly got back up and charged again, throwing punch after punch at him.

Gligarman dodged each punch, and while he did so he realized something else: those punches were quite sluggish and less coordinated than he remembered, compared to the brief scuffle he had the other night.

' _This guy… he's not the same from before',_ he thought, dodging a left hook before getting a hold of his arm, and twisting it until a _crack_ sounded off.

"ARGH!"

Ignoring the guy's scream of pain, Gligarman stomped on his back to submit him, and getting a hold of his other arm he quickly grabbed a pair of cuffs to restrict his hands. Even in the middle of the struggle and despite his build, it wasn't too hard to get him under control, having already fought his fair share of physically stronger opponents in his lifetime. One smack on the back of the neck, and he was out cold.

At the same time, the Krookodile had begun bombarding Gligar with a Stone Edge barrage. The sharp stone shards were grazing the scorpion's body, who tried to zigzag around them trying to get in range to attack with Steel Wing, only to get slashed for his trouble and while he was stunned, a large jaw shut violently around his tail.

"GAAAAAAAAAAARRR!" Gligar shouted, while Krookodile violently swung him around with his jaws.

"Let go of him!" Gligarman then jumped to the beast's neck, stabbing it with a Gligarang to get it to open the jaws again.

"KROOKO!"

With a loud roar, Krookodile flailed around wildly, trying to shake Gligarman off its back. As soon as Gligar was free again, the scorpion flew away to safety, and shot Poison Stings at the reptile's face. In turn, said reptile shook around and slammed the ground with its tail, cracking it on several parts.

Finally, when Gligarman became sick of that wrestling game, he held his breath to press a button on his gauntlet's wrist, shooting out of his index and middle fingers a pair of gas streams right to the Krookodile's face. The Pokémon, caught off-guard, tried to resist at first, but eventually the gas he inhaled caused its eyelids to become heavy, and its struggles turned less and less intense by the second.

"Kro… ko…" it said before slumping heavily.

Gligarman got off its back and verified it was fast asleep. He grabbed the Poké Ball where it came from and pressed the return button, ensuring that it wouldn't cause trouble for a while. He then turned to his partner, who landed tiredly on the ground.

"You alright?"

Gligar had a few minor bruises and cuts from the Stone Edge, as well as the biting marks on the tail, but he didn't seem gravely hurt, and he replied to his trainer with the closest thing to a thumbs up he could make.

"Okay, rest for a bit, there's something else I'm worried about right now."

Gligarman glanced at the fallen sniper, turning him around before pulling out his mask and helmet. He hesitated for a bit before activating his visor's facial recognition system.

" _Gligarman, what's wrong?"_ Latoya asked through the communication channel.

"It's just a hunch, but… something tells me this isn't the man we're looking for. It was too easy to beat him in combat."

" _You think he's just a decoy?"_ Latoya asked.

Right then, Decid-Arrow and Flashstrika's voices also entered the communication channel.

" _There's no mistake. This one here had equipment to face me, but was still no match for me,"_ the archer said. " _The guy from the other night was a much better fighter than this."_

" _I'd like to say this one here must be the real one, but he fell too easy for me too,"_ the speedster added. " _Not even a good warm-up!"_

The heroes remained silent for a bit, thinking about what to do now. The fact the Pride Sniper had brought decoys dressed as him, and the words from the one who fought Gligarman gave him a sense of alarm. They weren't safe yet. Roberts was _not_ in the clear.

"Listen, we'll have to focus our attention on Roberts for the rest of the trip," Gligarman declared. "Flamestorm, if you can catch the hunter, better for us, but come and back us up as soon as you can. Decid-Arrow and Flashstrika, follow me, we'll stick close to the transport until it reaches the heliport."

" _Roger that,"_ the Night Watchers replied in unison, before turning off the communications for the time being.

With time still running, Gligarman gave his partner a medicine from his belt so he could recover a bit from the previous scuffle, and have a bit of an energy boost. The veteran masked hero had the feeling they hadn't gone through the worst of that night yet.

Things were bound to get pear-shaped at any second, he could feel it in his bones. He had to keep his guard up.

**…**

Flamestorm was surprised at how fast Hunter J had been to flee, even if he had been disabled for a very brief period.

By the time he reached the transport carrying Roberts' Pokémon, the armored truck was tipped over the pavement, and the security officers were laying all over, either unconscious or heavily wounded. They evidently tried to put up a fight as best as they could, but they were no match for her.

Meanwhile, her henchmen pulled the Pokéballs from their containers, bringing out Roberts' Pokémon out. Before they could try anything, the Hunter shot at them with her gauntlet, turning them into dull-colored statues.

"So that's what she did to me," the pyrokinetic vigilante muttered. "You won't get away with this."

Setting his entire body ablaze, he descended like a meteor towards the criminals. As soon as he landed, he spread a large fire ring around to force them to take cover, and he focused his attention on J, who raised her hand to deliver some orders.

"Take the cargo to the ship. I'll handle this guy personally," she declared as she adjusted her gauntlet, inserting a cartridge in it.

"You're not getting away!" Flamestorm countered, flying towards the guys carrying the living statues, before they got them into the six-wheeled vehicle.

J aimed his gauntlet at him and fired. Flamestorm anticipated and veered to the side to dodge the projectile, believing she'd try to petrify him like before. However, the bullet then exploded near him, unleashing some cold gas on him, which doused him like a fire extinguisher.

"What the-ACK!"

His fire put out, he ended up falling face first on the pavement. The next thing he knew, J's Salamence had jumped him, pinning him down with its entire body. He barely managed to move his head out of the way, before the dragon's jaws closed on it.

"You won't be flaming on for a bit," J said as she snapped her fingers.

"RRAAAARRRWWRRRR!" Salamence roared, its mouth wide open to unleash a point-blank Hyper Beam.

Flamestorm instinctively grabbed the beast's jaws with both hands, closing them shut as soon as he saw the orange energy build up. Having interrupted the attack, he tried to flame on again, but whatever he had been doused with was preventing him from shooting his flames with enough power, no matter where he tried to launch them from.

"Damn it…" He shut his eyes tight, trying to keep the dragon's jaws at bay.

He was running out of options, barring one. Focusing his energy, he kept his eyelids shut, containing all the heat in his head, ready to unleash it in a single blow.

Or rather… a single _beam._

"GET OFF ME!"

His eyes flared up once more, burning much hotter than before. That wasn't one of the flaming glares he used for intimidation: it was one of his deadliest weapons. He could shoot fire from any part of his body, his hands, feet or the mouth as it usually was the norm for Pokémon. However, he had learned through experience that his eyes were an important focus point, as they enabled him to concentrate the heat in a smaller area, turning the fire into a red-hot laser-like beam. Or 'Heat Vision', as it was usually called in comic books.

He deliberately avoided aiming to the face or torso, instead choosing one of the wings. The heat beam was so intense it pierced through the dragon's wing, causing it to shriek in anger and pain, giving him a second to slip away and free himself to get back on his feet.

He faced the hunter, who had lost her cool and now had become a little more agitated.

"You'll pay for that," she said as she threw two Pokéballs more, letting out a Drapion and an Ariados, both of them looking rather fierce and angry.

The spider began firing sticky globs at him, forcing him to dodge jumping and rolling on the ground, until one of them managed to hit his legs and left him glued to the ground. The scorpion then charged, its tail and pincers giving a toxic purple glow, but he dissuaded it from attacking by shooting another heat beam right to the ground it was about to step on, forcing it to pull back.

He didn't like using those eye beams. They were hard to control and could potentially be lethal, and they drained and disoriented him as it took a lot of power to fire a single shot.

The three Pokémon remained static, and so did their trainer, standing by in wait for any possible attack from the pyrokinetic vigilante. Should he try to flame on again?

"Cargo loaded, Ms. J!" one of the henchmen said.

"Take them back to the ship! It's time to retreat!" she ordered. "But just in case…"

The woman pressed a button on her gauntlet. A sonic boom shook the air, and an unidentified object fell down to the city, like some non-fiery, non-living meteor. Flamestorm wondered what she was up to, but J didn't make any moves to hide it; it looked like she _wanted_ him to see it.

"I'd hurry up if I were you. That sonic bomb we just fired can demolish everything in a three-block radius."

The vigilante's eyes widened in shock. "What?!"

"Even if you can fly, I'd say you have only five minutes to go and defuse it. If you can figure out how to do it, that is. What will you do?" the woman asked with a smug smile.

Flamestorm clenched his teeth. The gas' effect was seemingly gone, as he could launch fire from his feet to free himself again, but much to his chagrin, he couldn't lose his time with the criminal in front of him.

If she was telling the truth, and they had launched a bomb… they were very close to the residential areas.

The decision was obvious. He quickly propelled himself away from there, towards the area where the bomb had fallen. Meanwhile, J recalled her Ariados and Drapion and flew over her Salamence, while the six-wheeler transporting the petrified Pokémon raced away as well.

" _Flamestorm, what are you doing?!"_ Latoya asked.

"You heard her. If there's a real bomb there, many people will die if it goes off."

" _But she's gonna slip away! I'll send Flashstrika after it!"_

"There's no time! Not even he can run fast enough to get it to safety! I'll have to fly away with it!"

Despite Latoya's complains, Flamestorm continued flying. Even though the secondary goal of the mission was to try and catch the criminals, if there were civilians at risk, the priorities changed.

Smart woman that J, she knew they'd prioritize keeping people's lives safe over trying to catch her.

**…**

Concurrently with the confrontation between Flamestorm and J, the other two Night Watchers and Gligarman continued their duty to escort Roberts' transport until it arrived by the heliport.

The rest of the trip was not exempt of trouble, but at least the speedster could give them early warnings, so as to clear the route and make sure the two transports carrying the politician and his wife arrived safe and sound.

However, the one carrying the Pokémon still hadn't made it, and from what they got through the communications channel, two of the decoy transports had been intercepted by the aggressors. There were plenty of wounded, though fortunately there hadn't been any fatal casualties so far.

As Flashstrika continued to check the perimeter to make sure there were no more ambushes in wait, Gligarman and Decid-Arrow approached Roberts and his wife. Better not to let them out of their sight until they boarded that helicopter and left town safely.

"Are you sure you're alright, Mr. Roberts?" Gligarman asked.

"I'm still in one piece, that's what matters," the politician answered. "But my Pokémon, do you believe they…?"

"You don't need to worry," Decid-Arrow said. "If anything comes up, Flamestorm will handle it. For now, you and your wife better board that helicopter."

The politician nodded, and placing himself in his bodyguards' hands, he quickly walked towards the helicopter along with his wife. Until that vehicle took off, their mission was still underway.

"This wasn't easy at all," the archer commented. "I hadn't sweated as much with thugs like these in a long time. They were prepared for us."

Gligarman nodded. "I'd praise their skills if they weren't criminals. Now more than ever I'm happy to have come to you guys for help. I wouldn't have been able to protect Roberts alone, not even during my prime."

"Hey, don't undersell yourself," Decid-Arrow replied. "Besides, you put us one step forward to anticipate anything that could happen. Your experience was more important in this case."

Gligarman couldn't help but smile with gratitude. He was flattered that the younger hero appreciated his help as much as he appreciated theirs. Their styles and methods of crimefighting might've been different, but at least they shared the same basic ideals, and respected each other.

"Mission accomplished," Decid-Arrow said as he glanced with satisfaction at the helicopter, while Roberts and his wife readied to board. They'd soon be on their way to the safe house…

**_*BANG!*_ **

"KELLEN!"

The gunshot, followed by the scream of Roberts' wife, were heard even over the helicopter's blades whirring, snapping everybody to alert. Gligarman felt his blood chill, and for a second it was like the whole world around him froze over, as he tried to assimilate what had just happened.

**_*BANG! BANG!*_ **

Two more shots went off, and then a smoke blast went off near the helicopter. After a few fighting noises, the helicopter took off and began flying away quickly. It was just then that the two vigilantes finally snapped out of their shock and ran off to see what happened, as the security staff pulled out their weapons and fired at the helicopter, for all the good it was going to do.

"Honey!" the woman screamed, holding her husband tightly. He had taken two shots on the torso and one on the upper right arm. The two on the torso had actually pierced through the Kevlar vest he was wearing.

"The… pilot… he…" Roberts said weakly.

"No… how could this happen?"

It was then Gligarman understood. He couldn't believe it: all this time he thought they were one step ahead, while in reality their foe was two steps ahead of them.

After all, almost nobody but the security staff knew where that place was.

"We've got to take him to the hospital!" the bodyguards yelled. "Take him to the car!"

"There's no time!" Flashstrika came up literally like lightning. "I'll do that, you go get _him_!" He pointed at the helicopter.

"Hold on!" Gligarman stopped him, pulling out a couple of tubes from his belt and tossing them. "Make sure they administer him that! Tell the medics to inject him with it!"

"Gotcha!" the speedster replied, tossing a Pokéball shortly. "Electivire, help them here, do as they say!"

The Electric-type nodded, as the speedster carefully lifted the bleeding politician in his arms. His eyes gave sparks and he immediately ran off as fast as he could back to the city, his electric trail becoming lost in the distance.

"I won't let him get away!" Decid-Arrow shouted, running after the helicopter along with Gligarman.

The archer quickly deployed his bow, and aiming carefully, he materialized a Spirit Shackle arrow. After firing it, it left a purple streak behind as it pierced through the helicopter's tail. He immediately fired another to intersect it with the helicopter's shadow on the ground, and then two more, as fast as he could. Like makeshift cables, the spectral energy lines prevented the vehicle from flying away, tensing against the shadow on the ground as it tried to gain altitude.

"Hurry, I won't be able to hold it too long!" the archer shouted.

Gligarman quickly got the message and turned towards Electivire. "Think you can give me a lift over there?"

"VIRE!" the Pokémon replied, and holding the hero below the armpits, he glowed with a yellow outline, beginning to levitate.

Gligar tried to get ahead by flying, but the wind generated by the blades made it hard, although fortunately, his trainer was able to approach it with Electivire's help, and quickly jumped on the helicopter. Without missing a beat, he went into the cockpit.

The pilot, who was unusually covered and armed to the teeth, evidently to hide his identity, welcomed him with a punch to his face, but he anticipated it and quickly replied in kind.

"I have to say, I didn't expect to see _you_ of all people!" he yelled out loud, trying to make himself be heard through the helicopter's whirring. "I thought you had retired!"

"Retirement's over!" Gligarman snapped back, clenching a fist to try and attack.

In such a cramped space, and in such a precarious situation, it was too hard to fight. The helicopter was barely held in place by the improvised cables, but unfortunately the pilot, who Gligarman was now sure was the _real_ Pride Sniper, was taking advantage of it to keep the vigilante at bay.

Pushing him against the control panel, the criminal punched Gligarman's face and stunned him, using those seconds to slip away and prepare to jump off the vehicle. Gligarman heard a Pokéball bursting open, and through the corner of the eye he could spot the silhouette flying over what looked like a giant stingray, probably a Mantine, who managed to escape by the hairs from some electric blasts launched by Electivire.

"Go, don't let him slip away!" he called out to Gligar, and the scorpion immediately flew after him at full speed. He then turned towards the still hovering Electivire. "And you, help me here!"

The Spirit Shackle cables holding the helicopter finally gave out, and just after Gligarman jumped of, it quickly spun out of control and precipitated to the ground, crashing violently. Electivire caught Gligarman, and still having the Magnet Rise active, he flew to chase their foe before he slipped away.

"Watchcave, we've got problems here!" he called to Latoya through the communications channel.

" _Yeah, I noticed,"_ she replied. _"Unfortunately, we've got problems on both fronts. Flamestorm's now dealing with something just as serious."_

"Just as serious? Roberts has just been shot, and the sniper is about to get away! What could be more serious than that?"

Before Latoya could answer his question, not too far from there he spotted a fireball flying away from the city at full speed. Seconds later, a deafening sonic blast went off, sending out an expansive wave that shook the air around him, almost knocking him off Electivire's back.

"What the hell was _that_?!"

**_To be continued…_ **


	3. Chapter 3

**_A few minutes earlier from the last chapter…_ **

It wasn't too hard to find the bomb the airship had fired. All he had to do was to look for the street with the large crater, once he extrapolated the launching trajectory.

As soon as he came closer, Flamestorm assessed the situation. To start, he activated his visor's scanner to check on the artifact and determine what to do. If that bomb was sensitive to heat or movement, he could've accidentally detonated it and get himself killed, along with the people he was trying to save.

"Okay, looks like it's safe," he said once he finished. The detonator was connected to a sonic wave generator, and the timer signaled less than two minutes before it fired off. "Watchcave, I need some help here, can we deactivate it?"

" _The bomb's mechanism is way too complex,"_ Latoya replied. " _Time's running out, we can't defuse it as is."_

"Well, guess that only leaves us one choice." Flamestorm extracted the core with the explosive, still beeping as the seconds passed. There was only one place to take it: up, up, and away.

The pyrokinetic vigilante crouched as he focused his full power in his legs. With a fiery eruption and leaving a huge scorching mark on the pavement, he rocketed towards the sky, pouring every ounce of power he had to keep the trajectory straight. Which was no easy feat, as he couldn't use his hands to stabilize his flight.

The plan was simple but very dangerous: he had to fly up and as far away from the city as possible, use the flight speed as momentum and throw the bomb as high as he could, right when it was about to explode. All the while, he had to fight the urge to check on the timer and focus on gaining distance and altitude.

Fortunately for him, Latoya was taking care of that for him. " _Thirty seconds for detonation! You have to throw it NOW!"_

"HERE GOES!"

Praying so he was at a safe distance already, the fire hero grabbed the artifact with his right hand, and giving himself a boost with propulsion from the elbow, he threw it skywards.

He was already out of the city's boundaries, so the innocents were safe. But if it really had a three-block blast radius as Hunter J had said, he didn't think he'd made it out in time to avoid it. All he could do was to fly as far away as possible to minimize the impact.

Propelling with his hands and feet now, Flamestorm turned around and tried to fly in the opposite direction, mentally counting the seconds left for the detonation. On the count of ten, he looked over the shoulder and saw the bomb still flying upwards, and then arching downwards before starting to fall back. Only five seconds left now…

Four…

Three…

Two…

One…

The world went numb for a split second, and a deafening boom shook the night sky, as the sonic shockwave thundered behind Flamestorm. The vigilante clenched his teeth and shut his eyes, bracing for the inevitable, feeling as if a passenger jet hit him in the back, so hard that it caused him to stop shooting fire.

The last thing he heard was the sonic waves' boom piercing his eardrums, while his arms and legs went limp, and he started to fall. After that, he knew no more…

…

"Flamestorm!"

The archer watched in horror as his red-clad comrade plummeted like a meteor towards him, after taking that sonic blast. Even as a Bloodliner, there was no way he was sturdy enough to survive that fall.

"Hope this works. Hang in there!" he said as he pulled back his fist. It gathered a spiral wind, and quickly took the purple tinge of an Ominous Wind.

Once Flamestorm was close enough, Decid-Arrow delivered a powerful uppercut, sending out an air blast that quickly spiraled into a purple tornado around him. Flamestorm's unconscious form landed on top, managing to cushion the fall but failing to stop it. Thus Decid-Arrow immediately used the other fist to give the attack a boost, trying to create a makeshift wind tunnel so as to land him gently and safely.

"Come on, buddy, don't die on me now," he said as he slowly shifted the wind, slowly petering it out until he landed gently on the pavement. He quickly rushed forward and gave him a few gentle taps on his face. "Flamestorm, wake up. Come on, wake up."

"Ugh… what the… what … happened? Argh…"

"You alright? You didn't break anything, did you?" Decid-Arrow asked.

"WHAT?!" Flamestorm almost yelled, and then held his temples. "Argh, still that buzz in my head."

"The sonic boom must still be ringing in your ears," Decid-Arrow said, opening the communications channel once more. "Watchcave, what's our status?"

" _Not looking good_. _Flashstrika is barely halfway to the hospital with Roberts, and Gligarman is still pursuing Pride Sniper. Meanwhile, Hunter J's goons are driving fast to meet with her and deliver their cargo, while she's back safe in her airship."_

"Is that so? Damn it," the archer cursed under his breath. "Tell me where the goons are, we can't let them slip away."

" _You think you can catch up to them?"_

"I'm no Flashstrika, but I have a way to move fast when I need to. Where are they?"

" _Right now, they're driving across Royal Street and have just gone past the intersection with the 35th. They're trying to take the shortcut out of town."_

"Well, I know one or two shortcuts myself," Decid-Arrow said, switching off communications and then checking on his partner. "Rest easy, man, I'll take it from here."

"Give them hell for me. I'll catch up when the rest of me stops aching and I can fly again."

With a firm nod, Decid-Arrow ran back to town. Hunter J might have slipped away, but at least they could make sure she wouldn't get paid for her troubles. And with luck, Gligarman would take care of the sniper.

They had to apprehend at least one criminal that night.

* * *

 

**_Meanwhile…_ **

As the Pride Sniper continued to surf through the air on his Mantine, Gligarman kept his glare fixated on him from behind. Despite being worried about the explosion from before, Latoya had assured him Decid-Arrow would take care of it, and told him to focus on not letting the hitman out of his sight.

"Sorry to tell you this, but do you think you could kick it up a notch?" he asked his mount ally.

Electivire looked at him through the corner of his eye, and groaned slightly. Even then, a second later he tensed his body and gave of a few sparks, after which he performed a violent speed burst, forcing Gligarman to hold on tight to avoid falling. A few seconds later they overshot the Pride Sniper and his Mantine, hovering in front of them.

"What the-"

Without hesitation, Gligarman jumped off of Electivire and pushed the criminal off the flying stingray. Mantine turned around and tried to rush in to catch them, but it was intercepted by Electivire, who grabbed hold to electrocute it, while hero and criminal plummeted towards the ground.

"Get off of me!"

"NEVER!"

In the middle of the scuffle, a strong wind current whipped up from below, raising a sand tornado under both men. Gligar had whipped up a Sandstorm attack to slow down their velocity until they both landed. Or rather, _crash-_ landed, but at least neither of them suffered heavy wounds, and they could easily resume their fistfight.

As soon as he got an opening, the Pride Sniper delivered a right hook at the hero's face that took him down, and his next action was to try and draw a handgun on his hip. However, when he tried to aim, a small Gligarang got stuck in the cannon and blew it up when he tried to fire.

"ARGH!" he yelled, holding his injured hand and throwing the now useless weapon aside. "I should have guessed I couldn't do a clean getaway with you around."

"What would be the fun in that?" the hero replied, readying another Gligarang for throwing as his Gligar perched on his shoulder.

At the same time behind them, Mantine plummeted on the ground giving off sparks, and Electivire landed shortly after, the Magnet Rise aura now receding as its effect wore off. The Electric-type quickly joined them, ready for another bout.

"Alright, looks like we'll have to do this the old-fashioned way. Come out now!" He threw up in the air a pair of Ultra Balls with his good hand.

Two ferocious-looking Pokémon emerged: the first was a Weavile with unusually long claws and a large scar across its eye, although it seemed fully functional. The second, a rather long snake with large fangs and a blade-shaped tail from the Hoenn region; a Seviper.

"Weavile!"

"Ssssseviper!"

Gligarman gauged the situation. Two Pokémon each looked like a fair fight, and it seemed like the sniper wanted it that way. Even so, he couldn't let his guard down.

"Gligar, you know what to do. Electivire, give us a hand, will you?"

Gligar took to the air and coated his wings in metallic energy, taking a dive at Weavile, who without commands extended its claws and made them glow identically, clanking against the Steel Wing. Meanwhile, Electivire ran at Seviper with a fist charged in electricity, and the snake swiveled to dodge and countered by coating his tail in purple energy, trying to deliver a barrage of rapier-like thrusts with it.

As the Pokémon locked themselves in their fights, Gligarman saw the hitman turning his visor towards him, and readied his fists. The Pride Sniper grabbed the rifle he carried on the back and split it into two components. Much to Gligarman's shock, he donned the weapon's butt on his injured hand like some sort of knuckle, and with the other hand he held the cannon like a tactical baton.

"It's been a while since I last fought this way. Hope I'm not too rusty," he said before charging.

Gligarman blocked the first swing aimed at his head with both arms, and the Pride Sniper then tried to punch him with the knuckle, which to his horror produced a set of electrified spikes. Fortunately his suit was shockproof and the padding helped so the spikes wouldn't pierce through him.

Even without taking the weapons into account, the Pride Sniper was a formidable fighter, and not just with his fists. As he quickly learned, his legs were capable of delivering a lot of pain, and even with the padding in his forearms he felt the kicks.

By a lucky chance he managed to grab hold of one of them with both hands, and turned around to throw him aside, but he quickly recovered and charged again against the vigilante, pulling another piece of the rifle's cannon to reveal a hidden blade, now lunging at his lower face, the only place his suit didn't protect.

Gligarman stepped back to get some distance, dodging it just by the hairs, and when he charged again, he kicked the bladed baton/cannon out of his hands. He then delivered a punch to his face, but the guy caught it with his good hand and held tight. Gligarman tried to punch with the other fist, only to be parried with his other forearm, although for a brief moment Gligarman spotted a flicker of pain in his opponent's mouth.

Deciding to capitalize on that, he took his first chance to grab the opponent's injured hand and squeezed it, and while he was shrieking in pain, he threw him over his shoulder, slamming him on his back.

"It's over," Gligarman stated as he walked towards him.

While the guy was motionless, Gligarman walked up to him cautiously, extending a hand to pull his visor and see his face.

However, when he did, a failsafe triggered.

"What the-ACK!" A blinding flash went off, forcing Gligarman to cover his face, and his opponent used those seconds to spring back up with a double kick to the chest.

"It'll take more than that to bring me down," he said as he got back on his feet.

"Vile!"

"Gligar!"

Gligarman turned around for a moment to check the fight between their Pokémon. Gligar was floating in the air, firing a barrage of Poison Sting needles while Weavile covered its face. Getting sick of the assault, the Dark-type weasel opened its maw and unleashed an Icy Wind that froze the needles, and caused a frosty layer to appear in Gligar's wings, hampering his movements.

Electivire wasn't doing any better: Seviper had coiled around his body and was squeezing hard, and to top it off it had just sunk the fangs to suck Electivire's energy with a Mega Drain. The Electric-type tried to break free unleashing electricity from his body, but the snake endured the shocks almost unnaturally.

"Word of advice," the Pride Sniper piped up when he noticed. "Don't worry too much about them right now. For now we both have to watch our own backs."

"Same to you," Gligarman replied.

Was he waiting for something to come his way? In that case, he had to hold on until the Night Watchers could come to his aid, should he fail to overpower him on his own.

They both stood on guard and once again lunged at each other to start a fistfight. Right now, that seemed the best way to sort out their conflict.

* * *

 

**_Elsewhere…_ **

Bartholomew J. West always took pride in being speedy and efficient in his job. He had to be, considering he was a firefighter for many years.

Now he had to show off that speed, to reach his destination in time, carrying the burden of a wounded Roberts and at the same time watching to not to worsen his condition. Every second passing was a second closer to death.

The speedster turned around three more corners, taking advantage of the low traffic, until he finally reached the Goldenrod General Hospital. Without missing a beat he sped up the entrance stairs and stopped suddenly at the reception lobby, raising a small wind current out of inertia that shook both the nurse on shift and the few people waiting at the time.

"Emergency!" he shouted. "I need help here, bullet wound!"

The nurse, a twenty-something blond woman with long hair, quickly snapped of her horrified stupor after seeing the blood, and pressed the intercom. "Calling Doctor Stiles, we have a bullet wound here! Get the E.R. ready ASAP!"

Without waiting for a response, she jumped over the reception desk to check on the situation and drive the curious onlookers away. She gasped as she recognized who the wounded was, but quickly composed herself. "Mr. Roberts, can you hear me? Are you still with us?"

"Ugh… yeah…" the philanthropist replied, trying to sound strong. Key word being _trying._

"Easy, please save your strength," the nurse said, grabbing his hand gently. She then turned to the speedster vigilante. "What happened?"

"The madman who tried to murder him the past night came back for another go," Flashstrika replied. "And with anti-Kevlar bullets this time, that sneaky bastard."

Right then the doctor arrived, a man in his late twenties with brown hair and glasses, along with two aides rolling a stretcher. He was left speechless when he caught the sight, possibly due do recognizing Roberts, but quickly shook off the shock and gave his orders.

"Get him on the stretcher, pronto! Angie, I'll need your help here!" he exclaimed with an authoritarian tone.

The nurse nodded. "Yes, Doctor Stiles!"

"Doctor!" Flashstrika called, as he tossed him a glass tube with liquid. "The bullets contain an alkaloid to kill the victim. Use that to neutralize it."

"Thank you. Come on, move, move!"

As the doctor carried Roberts to the E.R, Flashstrika quickly sped out of the hospital and returned to the streets, opening the communications channel.

"I did everything I could here. How are things over there, Watchcave?"

" _Flamestorm is temporarily out, and Decid-Arrow is trying to stop Hunter J's henchmen from taking the Pokémon,"_ Latoya's voice replied. " _Gligarman right now is fighting the Pride Sniper, but Hunter J slipped away. She must be safe in her airship as we speak."_

"Sweet," Flashstrika snarked. "Well, I hope she cashed her job in advance, because she won't take her prey on my watch."

" _The vehicle with the Pokémon has just gone past the Royal and 27th intersection. If you cut through the buildings in your current district, you might be able to catch up before they get to the fork leading to Route 35. Between you and Decid-Arrow, you should be able to cut their escape."_

"Sounds like a plan. Full flash ahead!"

And with a super Wild Charge for his Motor Drive, Flashstrika increased his speed output, running up the nearest building until he reached the top, and jumping from one to another to cut a few seconds. A bit risky even for him, given that he was more a runner than a jumper, but right now, catching up to those goons was priority.

…

Decid-Arrow wasn't as fast as Flashstrika on his feet, but he had a way to come close enough when he had to.

One of the uses of his intangibility was to sneak across the shadows on the floor, pretty handy to dodge obstacles, enemies, and making sneak attacks. There was one downside: while he was phasing through the ground he couldn't see where he was going, thus he had to gauge the distance to know where and when he had to go back to the surface, and he'd only made that with years of practice.

Good thing he did, because right now, he had to catch up fast.

As fast as the six-wheeler was, it had two shortcomings impossible to ignore. It couldn't break through the buildings, and it lacked heavy weaponry to remove big obstacles from the path. As a result, it was forced to maneuver in the middle of the street, trying to take the shortest route.

As he arrived to the main street, he spotted his target approaching from the right, and a quick glance made him notice they had just stepped on the gas, and they also pulled out a couple of side turrets with gatling guns aiming at him. Just what he needed.

"Let's see how you like this." The ghost archer pulled an arrow head from his belt and pressed the button on his gauntlet to expand his bow.

Before they could fire at him, he materialized the Spirit Shackle arrow with one hand and placed the arrow head on the bow's launcher. He had practiced that trick for efficiency, as he always tried to fire before his foes if he could. All he had to do was line up the spectral arrow with the head, and then lift the safety lock before firing.

Aiming carefully at the wheels once they got in range, Decid-Arrow lifted the lock and fired. It impacted against the tire, exploding in a fiery blast that sent the vehicle through the air, its side turrets firing in random directions and hitting walls and glasses, before it fell upside down on the pavement after passing over him. The archer quickly retracted his bow and approached slowly, seeing how some of the henchmen tried to abandon the vehicle, pained and bruised, but some of them visibly angry.

"You accursed freaks, how dare you meddle in our plans?!"

"That's our job, isn't it?" Decid-Arrow quipped. "Now, will you come quietly or will there be trouble?"

In response, the goons pulled out their Pokéballs. Not wanting to deal with them, Decid-Arrow vanished into the ground, and sliding across the shadows, he sneaked under them and reappeared from behind, lifting both hands to deliver an axe double-handed strike to the biggest of them, right on the back of the head and knocking him instantly. The others turned around alarmed, and they managed to throw a few Pokéballs to let out a swarm of Golbat to overpower him en masse.

Underneath his mask they couldn't see Decid-Arrow's stoic expression remained still. No matter how many they were, he knew how to deal with them all at once. He closed his arms over his chest, and a purple ominous aura surrounded him. Right when the bats were all over him, he spread out his arms violently, unleashing an Ominous Wind purple hurricane in his surrounding area, blowing all the Golbat and crashing them against the nearby buildings, and the few goons who were lucky enough to get a hold of something before being blown away too stared at him in terror.

"Damn it, let's get outta here!" one of them shouted.

"You don't need to say it twice," another one added, and they all began running for it.

Decid-Arrow, for his part, once again expanded his bow and readied another spectral arrow. He specifically aimed at the guys' feet, and fired four more in quick succession to cover the entire area. Seconds later, all of the guys tripped over and fell face first on the pavement.

"What the hell...?! I can't move my feet!"

"Spirit Shackle," Decid-Arrow said as he approached them. "I've just stitched your shadows to the ground. You won't be running around for quite a while."

"And even without him, you guys think you'd outrun _me?"_ another familiar voice spoke.

Decid-Arrow and the goons turned to it simultaneously, and they met the smug smirk of Flashstrika, who had just stopped before them, with his hands on his hips. The angry groans stopped instantly, and the goons raised their hands in surrender.

Afterwards, Decid-Arrow went towards the crashed vehicle. Not bothering to open the cargo area's hatch, he phased through it to find that the Pokémon collection was there in full, still turned into statues. However, he took notice of how the containers had some kind of switch, and he pressed it all the way down, learning that it removed the layer of whatever material they used to trap them. He immediately proceeded to free the others, hearing the police sirens wailing as he got to the last one.

"You are safe now," he said to the Pokémon. "The police will handle the rest."

Exiting the vehicle, he heard the sirens wailing, and shortly after saw the police cars arriving, headed by the local Officer Jenny riding her motorcycle with sidecar, screeching to a stop and almost jumping off of it upon getting close enough. The archer and speedster immediately approached her.

"Officer Jenny, the Pokémon are all safe and sound."

"Good work, Decid-Arrow, Flashstrika," she saluted them. "We thank you for your cooperation, we'll take it from here."

Both vigilantes nodded, and upon looking up Decid-Arrow remembered something else. He quickly switched on the communicator.

"Flamestorm, what's the status over there? Can you fly yet?"

" _Nope, sorry,"_ the pyrokinetic vigilante replied. " _Gligarman is still fighting the Pride Sniper right now, I'll try and get there on foot to help."_

"Don't overexert yourself, we're on our way," Decid-Arrow replied, switching off communications and turning to Flashstrika. "Think you can give me the lift there?"

"Do you have to ask, chief?"

And without further words, Flashstrika grabbed Decid-Arrow by the shoulders, and both of them vanished in an electric streak. Gligarman could be a badass veteran, but even he could use some extra help.

Now that the Pokémon were safe under police custody, they could focus on catching the bad guys.

* * *

 

**_Back to Gligarman…_ **

The fight between the veteran superhero and the contract assassin became fiercer and fiercer with each passing second, even when the two started to show fatigue.

At that point, both of them had left all precautions behind, and their fight had turned into a physical struggle as they tried to catch one another, either to choke or snap the other's neck. Or at least, that was what Pride Sniper attempted to do when he held Gligarman in a headlock.

Gligarman was grateful to his suit for having a reinforced collar, and even more for the strength boost as he grabbed his opponent's arms to break free, before tossing him over his head. If it wasn't for the suit he wouldn't have hold his ground against this guy. At least not as long as he did, even if he was in his prime. He truly was getting old.

The Pride Sniper stood back up, his mouth gasping under his masked face, but seemingly in better condition than him. All the while during the fight he had tried to pull out the concealed weapons he had all over his person: knives, stun guns, flashbangs and smoke bombs, and they were now spread all over the field. Among them were scattered pieces of shrapnel, belonging to broken Gligarangs.

"You're so… persistent… for your age…" the criminal muttered under his breath, holding his last combat knife in his good hand with reverse grip.

"Same… to you…" the vigilante replied, discreetly moving his hand to his belt's back pocket, grabbing a handful of smoke bombs. _Very_ special smoke bombs.

Meanwhile, the Pokémon near them kept fighting ferociously, or at least Gligar and Weavile were, the sounds of their Steel Wing and Metal Claw clashes still clanking around. At the other side of the field, Electivire and Seviper laid on the ground, the former with a purple tinge in his face and blowing toxic bubbles, and the latter twitching on the ground with electricity. The mutual struggle had rendered them both unable to keep fighting or do anything to aid their allies.

' _He's waiting for me to move first,'_ Gligarman thought. _'Fine, if that's how he wants to play.'_

And thus, he threw a bomb at his feet to raise a smoke curtain, and ran around his foe as he kept throwing them one after another. Soon the combined smoke of all of them condensed into a thick cloud, so thick that they couldn't be seen to the naked eye.

"You think you can hide from me? This visor isn't just to look cool!" the Sniper shouted, evidently with indignation at such a simple trick.

"That's what I'm counting on!" Gligarman replied, still throwing the bombs to keep the smoke up.

Gligarman continued to circle around the Pride Sniper until he ran out of bombs. The hitman held his ground, aware of his foe's position the whole time, and waiting for him to make his move.

Once the blasts ceased in the middle of the smoke, the Pride Sniper saw how Gligarman's silhouette finally stopped running and charged right at him. Just as he expected; without missing a beat, he raised his knife to attack. No matter how much padding his suit had, he'd definitely cut through him up close…

But the knife didn't cut through any flesh. Instead, it only cut through a thick, floating purple fabric.

"WHAT?!"

"SURPRISE!"

And with that cry, a hand snatched his visor. The failsafe triggered again, but this time it didn't prevent it from being ripped off of his face, leaving his eyes exposed.

Exposed to a burning smoke.

"Argh!" He immediately started rubbing his eyes, trying to shake off the burn, but in doing so he let his guard down, unable to defend himself from the incoming beating.

Feeling a rush of adrenaline at his gambit paying off, Gligarman delivered a rain of punches to his face, ending with a kick to the abdomen that knocked him on his back. A calculated risk, but it had been worth it to get the upper hand.

Well, save for one small detail.

"Ah, I always liked this cape." He picked it up. Even as it had been torn almost in half, he still put it back on. "Alas, that was a small price to pay anyway."

At the same time, Gligar and Weavile had their final clash. Gligar flew through the dark weasel with a quick Steel Wing dive, and seconds later it slumped on the ground. The aerial scorpion flew until he perched back on his master's shoulder, full of cuts and with a frosty layer on some parts of the body, but he winked and raised his claw in what could easily be interpreted as the equivalent of a thumbs up.

"Well done," Gligarman congratulated him, as he pulled out a pair of handcuffs and glared at the sniper still on the ground. "Now, I think it's time to end this game once and for all."

He walked slowly and cautiously towards him. While he doubted he'd get back up after such a beating, it wasn't worth it to take any more risks than necessary, after all the troubles they had caused them that night. But now, he'd put him away for good…

"DON'T MOVE!"

Or maybe not. Gligarman stopped when the Pride Sniper turned around brusquely. Even after he just tossed him some dirt at him, the vigilante quickly realized there was something else in his hand.

A detonator trigger, and his thumb was shaking on the button dangerously.

"I push this… we both blow up," he warned, getting back on his feet with some difficulty.

What the hell was that guy made of? Gligarman quickly reached his communicator and pressed it. "Watchcave…"

A few seconds later, his daughter finally answered. _"It's not a bluff. He's got a full C4 charge strapped to his belt."_

"One false step… and we're both history…" he hissed with an evil smirk.

Gligarman tensed. Was he so bent in avoiding capture, he'd blow himself and his foe up?

He also noticed something weird in him, now that he could see his eyes more clearly. There was something familiar in them. A glare full of hatred and evil he had not seen in many years.

In fact, the last time he had seen that particular glare, was when…

**_*TSEW!*_ **

"Gligar!"

Gligarman turned in shock after he heard the shot, but his partner reacted before him. He was so focused on his opponent and trying to recall that glare, he didn't hear any approaching flapping. Gligar however sensed the danger and jumped to intercept it, and suddenly was enveloped in a blinding light… just to drop to the ground turned into a statue.

"Gligar, no!" the hero shouted, rushing after his Pokémon, and _then_ realizing what was going on.

The woman riding over Salamence's back, Hunter J, had just arrived and was aiming her gauntlet at them as she landed near the Pride Sniper. He still held the trigger device in his hand, but had removed the thumb from the button and was more relaxed.

"You took your sweet time," he said.

"Quiet you, just hop in," she replied. "We've got to go now, that was my last capture bullet."

The Pride Sniper didn't need to be told twice, and immediately jumped on the dragon's back. Meanwhile, Gligarman tried to rush after them, but a strong wind current stopped him on his tracks, while the sniper and the hunter flew up into the air.

The camouflaged airship opened a lower hatch to let them in, and they vanished inside. Next, the invisible aircraft left the place at full engine, a sonic boom echoing behind it and leaving all knocked out Pokémon behind, as well as a disappointed hero holding his partner trapped like a statue.

"Curses…" Gligarman fell to his knees.

"Gligarman!" a voice called out behind him.

The veteran hero turned around and saw his younger allies approaching. Flamestorm in particular looked like he had run a marathon, Decid-Arrow was trying to hold back his motion sickness, and Flashstrika gave him some pats on the back, before he ran off to check on Electivire.

"I'm sorry," Gligarman apologized. "They slipped away, both of them."

The Night Watchers exchanged glances among each other, and then to him, unsure as to what to say. Then, a static sound on the communications channel went off.

" … _ear me? Can you read me now?"_

"Watchcave?" Decid-Arrow asked. "What happened? We lost you for a minute or so."

" _Some sort of device disrupted the transmission. I tried to warn Gligarman that Hunter J and her airship were coming closer, but it seems he didn't hear me in time."_

Gligarman exhaled. So _that_ was why he didn't hear her coming.

"It wasn't your fault," the archer assured her. "Those two were far better prepared than we thought."

"No kidding," Flamestorm agreed, and then saw the petrified Gligar. "The Hunter did that again?"

"He took the shot for me," Gligarman explained. "Is he…"

"Rest easy, she did the same to me too," Flamestorm answered the unspoken question. "He's not dead, just trapped inside. But we better get him out. Believe me, it's not pretty in there."

"We should tell the police to come and pick up all this stuff," Decid-Arrow said, gesturing at the mess with the broken weapons and the defeated Pokémon laying around the field. "They could serve as evidence to track them."

Gligarman nodded. At the time, there was nothing left for them to do. He glanced up in the sky, where the ship had vanished, and frowned, feeling disappointed with himself. The criminals had slipped away, and they couldn't prevent Roberts from being shot. Their only victory, if he tried to look at any bright side that night, was to stop the Pokémon collection from being stolen.

He shook his head in denial. He really was getting old for the hero business.

* * *

 

**_Two days after…_ **

With a lot of tension in the air, Latoya couldn't do anything but watch the report on the news channel. Right now they were giving a very detailed overview of the events around the assassination attempt on Roberts.

She listened carefully as the surgeon in charge of his operation gave his statement.

"…had it been one hour later, or if we didn't administer that serum to neutralize the alkaloid, I seriously doubt Mr. Roberts would have lived through this experience," Dr. Stiles said in a serious tone. "Never in my whole medical career did I feel so tense during an operation, or so relieved to have successfully completed it."

"What's Mr. Roberts' current condition?" the interviewer asked.

"Although we narrowly avoided the worst, aside from the bullet wounds, the damage the alkaloid caused will have serious repercussions in the long term," the doctor said with a grave voice. "It'll be a long time before he fully regains his motor functions, and he'll have to undergo months, maybe years of rehabilitation to do so."

The image then cut to the news studio, and the anchorwoman gave additional comments about it.

"It light of the recent events, an official announcement has been made that Roberts will not be running in the upcoming senator elections. His party is currently in the middle of an inner selection to determine who will substitute him. On a related note, the Goldenrod Police Commissioner, Giordanna Jenny, confirmed to our channel the rumors about an alleged collab operation between the police department and the group known as the Night Watchers, as well as the coming out of retirement of the famous vigilante known as Gligarman after decades of inactivity."

Latoya leaned forward as she heard that, also seeing how her father's Gligar symbol appeared on the screen next to the anchorwoman. Now it came to the part she was the most interested in.

Right after, appeared on screen the veteran police officer and her father's long-time ally in crimefighting. "I firmly believe that the events behind the attempt on Mr. Roberts will have dissipated any doubt among my officers. Gligarman supported me since my days as a rookie cop, and I trust his judgment. Now that trust extends to the Night Watchers as well, for without their crucial assistance, I am certain the results of our operation would have been much worse."

Inside, Latoya hated to admit that part, but she had to acknowledge that was true. Neither her father on his own (or even with her help), nor Oliver and his gang, nor the police department could have been able to face those criminals on their own. In the end, it all came down to a team effort, even if they couldn't get Roberts out of it unscathed.

But at least he was still alive and in one piece. That had to count for something.

"Gligarman's return and the announcement of the Night Watchers working alongside the police have brought out a wave of reactions from the general public, both in their favor and against them. One of the main opponents to this initiative is Mahogany Town's representative, Frederick Swietenia, who declared-"

 ** _*CLICK!*_** The TV suddenly muted, much to Latoya's surprise. The girl turned around and saw her father standing behind the couch, the remote control in his hand.

"Hey, the best part was about to start!" she protested.

"We don't need to hear rants from a big-mouthed extremist," Parker said as he walked around the couch to sit next to his daughter, who pouted slightly. "Don't give me that look; you know he is."

"He might be, but he does bring up valid points," she said. "Crimes perpetrated by Bloodliners have increased lately, some regulations could be useful."

"Crimes perpetrated _against_ Bloodliners have also increased," Parker pointed out. "You know, I figured that working alongside Oliver and the others would have at least softened your stance about them."

Latoya looked away, but didn't say a word. Sure, working alongside those three, Bloodliners or not, had been a rather enlightening experience. Her father wanted her to see things from his perspective, specifically from the eyes of a hero who fought crime, as well as the others.

All the time during the operation, the Night Watchers were focused and determined on fulfilling their mission (barring Bart's occasional crack) and Latoya had no doubt they were as courageous and heroic as her father.

Still, she wasn't certain whether they'd be the exception or the rule among people with superpowers. After all in the comics, usually there were two dozen or so villains per every hero.

"About that," the girl suddenly recalled something she'd been meaning to ask for a while. "When you were fighting the Pride Sniper, there was a moment when you suddenly froze. I think it was when you removed his face visor?"

"You noticed?" Parker was surprised at that. "Well, there was something… something in his eyes. Something I hadn't seen in years… and it brought back my worst memory."

Latoya flinched. "You mean…"

"Yes… _that_ night," Parker replied in a low voice.

Once again, Latoya remained silent, this time due to the chill going down her spine. The tale of her father's worst memory had been one of the darkest episodes in his superhero career, if not _the_ darkest.

The image of a bunch of children beating their mother to death and then mercilessly dismembering her corpse was bone-chilling just with the tale. She couldn't imagine how it would be for him, having seen it with his own eyes.

"Do you think…?"

"If one of them were still alive, they'd probably be of that age," Parker said, answering what she was about to ask. "And come to think about it, the Pride Sniper seemed to talk as if we had met before."

"Wow…" Latoya simply said, too overwhelmed to add anything else. She immediately decided it was best to redirect the topic to something more pressing, so as to avoid tormenting her dad with those memories. "So… how's the criminal investigation going so far?"

"Even if they slipped away, the clues seem to point that, as we suspected, both were hired by the same person," Parker said, speaking more smoothly now he wasn't focusing on those dreadful memories. "Maybe they didn't know at first, so that's why their first attacks were separate. And good thing they were; we probably wouldn't have beaten them then."

"And what's the plan now?" Latoya asked with interest.

"Gio will continue to investigate, and she'll let me know if anything comes up. In the meantime, Oliver and his friends will take care of watching the streets when I'm not available."

"What are you talking about? Aren't you officially _un_ retired now?"

"I am, but I won't be able to go out on the field every day." Parker smirked. "Not when I'll be training my new sidekick, and eventually successor to the mantle."

Latoya gasped slightly. Sidekick? Successor to the mantle? Did he mean…?

"You could see the world through the hero's eyes for the first time," Parker said, now speaking with the deeper tone he used as Gligarman. "Now you have a clearer idea of what awaits you out there, and you're ready to start training as it's due. And we'll be starting… tonight."

…

That evening was out of the norm at the Parker Mansion. For starters, Parker told his daughter after dinner to go fetch for some training garb and meet him at the house gym. Once there, he handed Latoya a pugil stick, so she could show him what she could do with it.

"Aaaahh! Yah! Haaah!" Latoya yelled as she sent a series of strikes to the face, torso, and knees, which her father easily deflected.

"You're using traditional attacks, surprise me!" said Parker.

"I'm trying!" the girl shouted as she tried to deliver a thrust to the stomach.

Parker spun to the side and crouched, and then he delivered a swing behind her ankles, making her fall backwards. Before she could get back on her feet, Parker pinned her with his own stick and kept her that way for a while, until she stopped struggling and gave up. With that, he threw the stick aside and offered a hand to help her back up.

"Is this really necessary, Dad?"

"Latoya, if you're going to help me out there, you better be aware of what you're getting into," said Parker. "You must always assume the criminals won't touch their hearts to get what they want, no matter if it's you or anyone else getting in their way."

"I know, I know." She shrugged. "Just… this is a really weird training."

"Trust me, I know what I'm doing. I want to be sure my sidekick is able to keep up with me, and trust her to watch my back in a pinch."

Latoya rolled her eyes. She didn't quite like the "sidekick" bit, but she'd have to get used to it. On top of that, her father wouldn't even let her try the suit he'd made for her, not even to check if it fit her. It was kind of depressing to see it through the glass case, unable to touch it, but her father told her she'd have to earn it through training. According to him, the hero made the suit, not the other way around.

Parker then brought some training gloves for punching practice, and handed her a pair, so the girl donned them immediately.

"Rule number one, punch as hard as you can," said Parker as he placed his gloved hands forward.

Latoya threw her punches. She didn't have much arm strength, but that could be fixed over time and with some training. Seeing her father didn't even flinch, she added more 'umph' to her punches, but her father's hands barely shook at her attempts.

"Rule number two. Now punch even _harder_."

He wanted more? Fine, she'd give him everything she had and more. She'd show him, she wouldn't back down with anything. Whatever he had in store for her training, she would complete it. There wasn't anything she couldn't expect from him.

Except for…

"Hey!" the girl yelled, when her father suddenly pulled back the right arm and threw a punch at her face, barely delaying it enough for her to duck under it. "What was that for?!"

"And rule number three. _I_ make the rules," he said. "I never said I wouldn't attack you, did I? See, the second point of this exercise is seeing if you're ready for the unexpected."

Latoya sighed. It seemed like this would be harder than she thought. However, as if he had read her mind, her father approached and placed a gloved hand over her shoulder.

"Listen, my daughter. You're the most important thing I have in my life," he said. "For a long time, I didn't want you to get involved in this because I wasn't sure I could protect you. So at the very least, let me make sure you can protect yourself out there. Please, bear with me until then."

Latoya glanced at her father's concerned face. That look of his always made her heart melt, and there was no way she could refuse something to that. With another sigh of resignation, she nodded. She really wanted to help him, and he was willing to let her do so, as long as she could take care of herself. And of course, that he could trust her to watch his back when needed. With that in mind, both of them took their guard stance again.

"Let's do it again. A bit more power this time."

* * *

 

**_Far away from there, aboard Hunter J's airship…_ **

Many times J had found herself dealing with clients who at the last minute tried to bail out and leave without paying for her services. Of course, doing that would warrant them paying a higher price, and she'd always make sure of it.

This time, however, the exact opposite happened: she technically failed her endeavor, yet her client contacted her to pay the rest of the sum he'd offered. She had no idea how to feel about that, but considering the numbers, that didn't matter much.

And it was better than that one time she took a job from the Bloodline King anyway.

"I did _not_ expect that you had hired both of us at the same time," J commented on the bridge, as she talked through the communications' screen. The Pride Sniper was standing next to her, taking advantage of the lift she offered him for his help during that whole ordeal.

"Were you planning that for us join forces to give those vigilantes more trouble?" the assassin asked with interest.

"I admit it my intention was more to divide and conquer," the man on the other side of the screen replied. "But the fact that you guys worked together made everything turn out for the better in the end, so I'm not complaining."

"If it wasn't for those numbers, you might not be that happy," J said coldly. "I do _not_ appreciate being used as a distraction when your real target was Roberts himself all along. I'd advice against trying to pull something like that again."

"Of course, Ms. J. As a token of apology, I hope you'll accept an additional bonus."

The console next to her beeped, and J popped up another screen, confirming the transaction. A half-smirk formed in the Hunter's lips once she saw the numbers: it had an additional 25%. The Hunter nodded and then closed the screen.

"As for me, Roberts is still alive," the Pride Sniper said. "Are you sure you want to pay me despite that?"

"Our contract stipulated that you just had to get Roberts out of my way, no matter how," the man replied. "Since he won't be able to run in the elections, your end of the deal has been fulfilled, ergo, I must fulfill mine. That's only fair, isn't it?"

J observed how the Pride Sniper raised an eyebrow at their mutual client's remark. It seemed that he, just like her, had his own reservations about the result of the events.

After all, if she was a Hunter and her business was to capture Pokémon, he was a contract assassin and his business was to kill people.

"You said it when we signed the contract. You valued trust above anything else in this world. So I'd be betraying your trust by not paying for your services."

"Maybe, but this'll look bad for my record," the Pride Sniper replied. He probably meant that he never had a target walking away alive.

"Think of it this way: you've just killed his entire political career. The way I see it, that's a fate worse than death, and it serves me just as well as having him six feet underground."

J and the Pride Sniper exchanged glances. Politicians could be terrifying when it came to deal with things getting in their way. Of course, they'd resort to people like the two of them to do the dirty job directly, but still, woe to whoever got in their bad side for any reason.

The Pride Sniper pulled out a Smartphone-like trinket from his pocket, and J was close enough to see the screen through the corner of her eye. The payment had just been transferred in various untraceable assets. Nodding, the hitman put it away and glanced at the main screen again.

"Pleasure in doing business with you, Mr. Swietenia. Or should I call you, future Senator Swietenia?"

"No need for that, that's still a long way to go. The pleasure was all mine. Now if you excuse me, I have duties to attend. Good evening to you both."

And thus, the politician ended the call, and the screen turned off. Neither J nor the Pride Sniper said any more words, nor did their expressions faze in the least. They were just focused on looking outside the airship's window as their flight continued.

"Ms. J, we're entering the borders of the Orre region," one of the bridge operators called out.

"Keep the course as planned, and try not to get detected," J said before glancing at the Pride Sniper. "We'll soon be reaching your stop."

"Home sweet home," the man replied with a half-sarcastic tone.

Although J couldn't help but notice a tinge of nostalgia mixed with the sarcasm. "What are you up to in this wasteland of a place, anyway?"

"Nothing special. I just made a habit of stopping by the place where I was born and raised after a successful job. Or rather, what's left of it, after I torched and blew the place up myself. So I can rub it in her face."

J didn't get the last part. "Rubbing what in whose face?"

"My dearest mother's," he said with an evil smirk. "She was the one who taught me how to use firearms. Said I had the best shooting aim among my brothers."

"Oh? So you were a prodigy marksman since your youth?" J snarked.

"I had to be, only that kept me alive," he replied bitterly. "My only regret is that I never had the chance to properly thank her. What I would have given for the chance to get a bullet into her brains."

J felt curious about that, trying to picture what kind of mother could have raised the Pride Sniper. He truly was a guy who deserved respect and to be afraid of. She hoped they never crossed paths on opposite sides.

"I don't care for those details, so why are you telling me this?"

"Nothing. Just that you earned my respect and I enjoyed working with you. Besides, it's not like you could use it against me, is it?" he replied nonchalantly, as he pulled out from under his suit a rusted iron chain, of which a large "D" letter made of the same material hanged.

J looked at it with mild interest. "'D'? What does that mean?"

"Descant. That used to be my old name, but I cast it away long ago. Now I'm just the Pride Sniper."

J smirked and once again faced forward. The rest of the journey continued in silence, although she had to admit it wasn't too bad having teamed up with this hitman. Better than many past associates anyway.

And for the same reason she couldn't wait to drop him off in his destination. That way she could go back to her business as fast as possible, as in working only with subordinates and not with equals. It was much safer for her that way.

**_FIN._ **

* * *

 

**OMAKE (by Crossoverpairinglover):**

The day was saved!

VILLAINY was vanquished!

It left only one thing really, for the spectacular, the amazing, GLIGARMAN to do!

Educate the next generation, with the wisdom only a seasoned and state of the art mind could produce!

"…To summarize the lesson, when you find yourself with a powerful fanboy with too much time and power on his hands, in particular if he originated from _another dimension_ and thus can bend reality the way a _chef would bend dough_ for a _cookie platter of pure madness_ , the best thing you can do is keep the fanboy calm. Do not play along and let him get excited, but do not let him get bored. **Definitely** do not bore him: as that will only lead him to make his own fun. And that is no fun at all."

This unfathomably valuable pearl of wisdom, pure as the snow and as fresh as mountain spring water, was eagerly received by his three students, the NEXT GENERATION OF HEROES!

"Understood. To think that such _horrible_ creatures could exist."

Decid-Arrow's declaration was met by a curt nod from Gligarman, as definitive as the word of law!

"And yet such _archfiends of crime_ are not the only menace a costumed knight of JUSTICE must be prepared for my young Kricketot! The _wicked_ spirits of the _spirit world_ are just as bad, if not worse, as anything. I've occupied enough of your time today, so I'll cover them next time and show you the techniques I have to battle _the unyielding spirits of the d…._ "

Before Gligarman could get in a word in edgewise, the space behind him SHOOT, and SPUN, and finally CRACKED!

CRACKED in a sound like broken glass, as a line formed in the air from _nothing_!

The three Bloodliner heroes jumped up in preparation to meet this unknown, but Gligarman held up a palm.

"At ease! I recognize this, and while it is a few lessons ahead in our _curriculum,_ it is something you should be prepared for. For there is nothing as _common,_ as _frequent_ , yet _as utterly and crucially important_ , as what we seem about ready to embark upon."

At these sagely words the door opened up wide, wide enough for bus, and plane, and blimp, as a single figure stepped forward.

He dwarfed them, dwarfed them like a Charizard did a Wartortle. His dress was dated, severe, and gray. Gray as the beard that wrapped around his chin, billowing like the smoke of an ancient locomotive.

As he exhaled from his nostrils, light smoke danced from them, like within him was a _burning furnace_. But to what would the furnace be put to use for?

"Well, as I live and breathe. It has been a while, Thomas T. H. Umba."

The now identified man nodded in acknowledgement, his beard shimmering like smoke in the wind.

"Who?"

Yes who, the question was raised. Who was this man, identified by such a strange title?

"You ask my identity, and as I do not keep a secret identity when I cross the fabric of worlds I will comply. I am the Living Locomotive, the Man made Train. A member of the Benevolence Society, I am the Train Man. I am bestowed with the _limitless and unfathomable power_ of trains."

The old man dramatically held a finger in the air, his index finger.

"Behold, this finger now bares the full force of a _modern locomotive._ Be poked by it, and feel its power."

"No thanks…"

"He's a hero from a very different universe. A world without Pokémon even, unfathomable is it is. Tell me though, why do you come for me?"

"The universe enters a period of _crisis._ The _Obsidian King_ is woke! He has aligned with the pixelated one that haunts your universe region, _the Missing Number_! The Benevolence Society gathers allies to combat the greatest threat to the universes! A gathering of the greatest men and women: the Sun Gunner, the Perfected Secretary, the Confiscator of Faith, all gather at the beck and call of us and our leader, the God of New England, to do justice? Tell me, will you four join us in justice!?"

No word was needed to answer, for all were standing.

All were moving.

The portal was crossed, and the room was filled with silence! Silence as the next and best adventure of our heroes begins! A lesson even more valuable than to fear the _bored reality warping fan!_

For every hero must be ready for the inevitable: the crossover.

The Crisis Crossover.

…

NEXT MONTH, THE STORY YOU'VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR

THE OBSIDIAN COVENANT!

ALPHA!

ONE!

TWO!

THREE!

FOUR!

FIVE!

SIX!

SEVEN!

OMEGA!

RESERVE COPIES TODAY, and ALSO READ THE VITAL TIE-IN BOOKS

The Train Man: 64-65

Wayne the Sun Gun: 24-26

Theron Dodekantheon, the Benevolence Leader: 70-72

Benevolence Society: 50-53

Benevolence Society Secret Operations: 15

Benevolence Society New York: 24-27

Benevolence Society Chicago: 22

Auburn Hall, Succubus: 14

Secular the Faith Man: 18-20

Gligarman: 66-70

Gligirl: 15-17

Night Watchers, the Trio of Justice: 10-12

Decid-Arrow: 5-7

Flashstrika: 5-7

Flamestorm: 5-7

Blaziken Mask: 11

The Black Arachnid: 8-10

The Mighty Accelguard: 14

Taisune: 24

MissingNo: 0

NOTHING WILL EVER BE THE SAME!

Come next year for the next event book


End file.
